Beauty of Uncertainty
by Keki186
Summary: Two completely different women: one CSI and one club owner... What would happen if their paths crossed? CS.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: _I told you I was working on a third text and here it is... or at least the first chapter. It's completely different from the other ones, because I'm definitely not following CANON. I hope you enjoy it!_**

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**CHAPTER 1 **

'You paged?' I ask Grissom as I enter his office.

He looks up from the paperwork covering his desk, it seems he waited doing it until he got almost buried under it. Nothing new… 'Yes, I wanted to talk to you about the party you guys wanted to have.'

'You aren't coming, are you?' I roll my eyes, why was I not surprised.

Grissom knows I didn't expect him to come, but he ignores it 'No, I'm not.' He doesn't give an explanation, something I wasn't waiting for because I know him for a long time now and I know this is just something he doesn't really need. Going for drinks or breakfast after shift with us yes, but going clubbing…no. 'But…' Oh there's a but, he immediately gets my attention 'To make it up to you, I arranged something with this club on the strip… Shakespeare, I'm sure you're familiar with the name, everybody knows that place.'

I'm impressed, I didn't know Grissom was into the clubbing scene, apparently he has a secret life. There are so many questions running through my head that I can't ask him anything, I just stare at him.

'Don't look at me like clubbing is part of my secret life. I just happen to know the owner.'

I'm even more impressed. 'Wow, how…'

He doesn't give me the chance to finish my question 'We've been friends for years, we met a couple of years ago in San Francisco.' He says matter-of-factly.

The owner of Shakespeare is famous, everybody who means something knows her and the rest just wants to know her, thinking they'll mean something too if they are seen with her. But I know she's very secret about her life, she comes into her club every night to speak to the audience or so I am told, because I didn't get the chance to go there. When she is done with greeting the crowd, she socializes for some time until she leaves. But no one really knows her, they all say they do… My mouth is hanging open, I'm shamelessly staring at Grissom in awe.

He smiles at me, amused by the expression on my face 'Well, are you interested or not? I've arranged the VIP lounge.'

'Of course I want to go, wow Grissom that place is … fantastic, every night the place is packed, people wait two even three hours to get in and some of them wait even longer and don't get in at all!! Still they return the following night in hopes they're more lucky. Do you know how long I've wanted to go there and I'm sure Nick and Warrick will love this too.' I'm almost bouncing like a child but I don't care.

Grissom is happy that I like his idea and he knows it more than makes up for him missing out on yet another party. 'Glad you like it, you are expected next week on Thursday. But…' Oh no, not a but now. I'm fearing what will come, more paperwork, more hours, … 'You have to tell me what it was like the following day.' He smiles, if the look on his face is any indication I guess he knew what kind of horrible scenarios were running through my mind.

'I will, promise.' With that I walk out of his office and start to look for Nick and Warrick to tell them the good news.

* * *

I looked everywhere I could think off but they weren't there, then it hits me that they're out on a case. I walk into the break room and smell a fresh pot of Greg's expensive brew. I inhale the smell and walk over to get me a cup.

'Stop! And put that down!' it's Greg, he's being overprotective again of his coffee.

I turn around and smile a sexy smile at him, I fix my eyes on his and walk a bit closer to him. I run a finger up his arm making him quiver a bit and purr 'I'm sorry, I thought I could take whatever I wanted from you.'

A blush creeps up his cheeks and he looks away shyly, taking his silence as a _go ahead_ I walk back towards the pot and just when I think I won, he says 'You might be my favorite lady, but you don't get to touch my coffee. You'll have to do better than running a finger up my arm.' He says firmly.

Wow, he begins to learn. Damn, I thought he would let me because he was too busy blushing. 'Greg, we have been working together for years surely you want to share your coffee with me. You know how I get when I don't get my fix on time.' I threaten him, it has more affect than the flirting did, he's visibly shivering when he thinks about my bad mood.

'Sorry Cath, no can do. You'll have to offer me something real good to make me share my $40 a pound brew.' He smiles at me innocently.

'Well Greggo, I got to give it to you, you're growing a pair of real balls or so it seems.' I wink at him to let him now I'm only kidding.

'Nope, I'm just getting used to the flirting and well as far as the threatening is concerned…now that I'm a CSI I know better ways of hiding myself without leaving traces.' He beams at me, proud of himself. 'Now, I really want to share this fantastic smelling coffee with you, but you'll need to offer me something worthy.'

I'm impressed, seems to happen quite a bit this shift 'I think I have something, Grissom arranged it so I can go to Shakespeare and if you let me have some of your brew I'll ask you to come too.'

His eyes widen and his smile spreads from ear to ear 'He did what??? Grissom is the man! You can have as much of this coffee as you like, count me in!' then something dawns on him 'How did he manage to do that?' his brow furrowed in confusion.

'Apparently he knows the owner.' I shrug at his puzzled expression.

'He is my new hero! I heard the owner is HOT! I've tried to get in for a couple of times, to get a glimpse of her but I was never lucky enough.' He pouts a bit, he is such a kid I put an arm around his shoulder.

'Now you'll get your chance.' I wink at him, take a cup of coffee and walk back towards my office where a load of paperwork is waiting for me.

* * *

_Knock __knock_

I look in the direction of the sound and see Sofia standing in my doorway. She's smiling suspiciously at me, there is something on her mind. I'm trying to read her but I can't. 'Can I help you, detective Curtis?'

'Yes you can, miss Willows.' Her smile turns into a smirk.

I can't help but think how sexy she looks smirking like that, it becomes clear to me she came to ask me something and she will make sure I agree with her no matter what. She raises a knowing eyebrow at me, I guess I was staring at her… Who can blame me, the woman is just breathtakingly sexy. With that smirk she has the ability to make you feel wanted and who doesn't want to feel desired. I don't have feelings for her, or at least nothing that comes close to love or something, but I wouldn't turn her down if she came on to me.

'This is the part where you ask what you can help me with.' She says obviously pleased about the fact that I was just staring and not speaking.

'What can I help you with?' I ask.

'I heard you have plans to go clubbing… I'm interested and I mean really _really_ interested.'

'Has Greg been bragging to everyone already.' It's more a statement than a question, I roll my eyes 'Of course you can come too.'

'Thanks. See you later.' She says before she walks away, but she turns around and comes back. 'Oh right, Greg told almost everyone about it so you'll get offers from a lot of lab rats too. Please don't tell Hodges it's okay to come with us.'

'I won't, don't worry.' Even if Hodges would be the last person on earth I wouldn't ask him. She smiles and walks away again, only this time she doesn't come back. I glance at my clock, still four hours left better get some more paperwork done, I'm already halfway through the stack.

* * *

I turn off the engine of my car and sigh, it's so good to be home especially after an entire shift of paperwork. I walk into my house and see my mom and Lindsey eating breakfast, I join them. Mom puts a plate with eggs and toast in front of me and a cup of fresh coffee. 'Thanks.' I smile at her.

Lindsey is looking at me like I'm a ghost or something, there is still food on her fork and her mouth hangs open, she seems to be frozen. I look at her and smile, she remains in the same position, okay I'm starting to worry 'Linds, everything okay?'

She puts her fork back on her plate and a smile is slowly forming on her face, her eyes widen a bit 'Mom, I'm totally in awe of you!!!'

'Gee thanks sweetie.' It's always great to hear your teenage daughter say something nice 'But why?'

'You are going to Shakespeare! I want to come too!'

I look at her trying to figure out if she's just kidding or if she's serious, oh my god she's serious 'Linds, you're only 15. I will not allow my 15-year-old daughter to go clubbing. I'm sorry.'

'But mmoooooommm…' she whines.

'No, Lindsey and that's final. You are too young, you're not even allowed to go inside.' I chuckle when I see her face, she looks so disappointed. Was she really thinking I would allow her to come with us. 'But over a few years I would be glad to take you with me, if you still want it.'

'Cool.' As if she'll want me to come in a couple of years. Nevertheless I can't help but feel pleased that she wants it now.

I finish my breakfast and kiss Lindsey goodbye, my mother is bringing her to school. I take a shower and go to bed. I enjoy a dreamless sleep until I am awoken by the annoying ringing of my cell phone. It's Nick, I forgot I left him a message saying he needed to call me ASAP. I tell him the wonderful surprise Grissom gave us and he's very pleased about it. Like I said a lot of people are dying to get in that club.

* * *

It's Thursday night, _the_Thursdaynight! Nick and Warrick will arrive in an hour to pick me up, I'm already done showering, now I just need to decide what to wear and it's a lot harder than I imagined. Should I wear a dress or pants? I have laid out a couple of outfits on my bed and pick them up one by one, I hold them in front of me looking in the mirror but the decision is hard. I like all the outfits!

After almost an hour choosing the right one, I'm finally dressed. I'm wearing a black pants, a light blue buttoned shirt an a cream-colored leather jacket. I like my choice, I put on some make up and make my way downstairs. I check the contents of my purse, everything seems to be there I look at my watch and see that I still have a couple of minutes before the guys arrive, I'm proud of myself.

I sit down on my couch and enjoy the silence, since Lindsey hit puberty everything is a lot more chaotic around the house. The minute she's home she turns on the stereo and some pop music blares from the speakers, when I tell her to turn it down we engage ourselves in a shouting game until I either give up or send her to her room. What is it with adolescents and turning everything into a fight? It seems she lost her ability to simply have a conversation with me a year ago. She doesn't come to me with her problems any longer, in fact she tells me nothing anymore.

When I ask her about school, she says _fine_ and walks away. But if something is clearly bothering her and I ask her about it, she starts yelling for absolutely no reason. I understand she's going through a rough period in her life, hell we've all been through it but that doesn't make it any easier, it hurts that she's leaving me out of her life. I just want to know how she is doing, that's all.

I'm so lost in thought about my daughter I lost track of time, so when my doorbell rings I almost shriek out of shock. Then I remember where I'm heading to tonight, a huge smile is plastered on my face, I'm excited like a small child on Christmas' Eve. I open my door and see a smiling Warrick standing there, I look behind him and see his SUV with Nick and Greg.

'Hi girl, you look stunning.' He says giving me an appraising look.

'Thanks War, so do you.' I reply sincerely, he is wearing a black suit pants and a deep blue shirt, hanging tightly round his massive chest, showing just how _muscled_ his body is.

'You ready to go?'

I nod and we head towards the car. I'm greeted by Nick and Greg who tell me I look stunning too, only Greg used a totally different set of words to describe how I look according to him, I roll my eyes at his comment. During the drive we engaged ourselves in playful banter, guessing how the inside of Shakespeare will be.

Well time to find out, we have arrived and Sofia and Wendy are waiting for us. We walk over to the two of them and after the courtesies we walk towards the entrance, I flash the VIP-pass and the bouncer smiles at us and motions for us to step up and enter the club. I look around the place and it is amazing! My wildest imaginations didn't even come close… the interior is completely black bar for the cushions of the sofas they're red, deep red like clear blood and the tables are steel-gray. I notice some other very interesting enhancements or decorations or whatever, all I know is that they're very interesting… and they're also steel-gray. I'm talking about three cages with some scarcely clothed female dancers in them, when I have a better look I see that the third dancer the one furthest away is actually a scarcely clothed male.

There's also a small stage in one corner with a pole on it, anyone who wants to give it a try can show their best moves. Hmmm…fascinating… I look at the bar, the glasses and liquor bottles are placed on glass shelves, but they're lighted by pink and green neon lights. Now I come to think of it, the place is lit by various colored neon lights and some black-lights. It's beautiful, it's so clear this place was decorated by a woman, I wonder what the ladies room looks like.

I watch the others, they all seem to be in awe of the interior as well. A waitress walks over to us and leads us towards the VIP-lounge. We take a seat, in the middle of the table sits a big bottle of Champaign in an ice bucket with a card 'on the house' we all take a glass and Nick fills them. We have a great view of the club up here, we're looking down on the dance floor, I watch the dancing people. This brings back so much memories, however I'm brought back by Warrick's voice.

'This place … is … wooow!'

'Wait till you see the owner, she's even more amazing than this place, I'm told she's a real enigma.' Greg states.

'Figures, she's a friend of Grissom.' I can't help but make a comment about it.

The others agree with me, I look around and hope to get a glimpse of this woman and I'm actually getting lucky. She walks in through some kind of back door I guess otherwise she has the ability to walk through walls which from scientific point of view is rather ridiculous. Immediately she's crowded by a lot of people, most of them female, a couple of them are even asking for her autograph this is so unreal.

She hands them out gracefully, she enjoys it but she is a bit uncomfortable with all the attention. However nobody seems to notice this or care about this. She excuses herself from the group and I swear some of them almost fainted when she touched them, damn that woman has to be good. I decide to give her a better look, she's wearing a black suit-pants and a black tight shirt accentuating her curves and she's also wearing a hat so I can't really see her face. I note that she's also wearing a loose hanging red tie.

She walks up on the stage with a microphone in her hand 'Good evening all of you.' She proceeds to walk to the front 'I hope you're all enjoying yourselves but judging by the queue in front of the toilets I'm sure you are.' She's standing at the edge of the stage now, her voice is husky and I find it very sexy. She takes her hat in her hand and the crowd begins to sheer 'Well, party on people!' then she throws her hat into the audience, they are almost fighting to catch it and the person who did is shouting and beaming.

This woman is really good! Now that the hat is gone I can see her face, she's is beautiful… she has dark hair and I guess dark eyes too. She looks up at us and winks, a warm fire starts in the pit of my stomach, I don't know her but I'm definitely mesmerized by her appearance. I snap out of my… my … whatever this was and look at the rest, they are all watching her closely too. I believe Greg is actually drooling, so is Wendy I notice.

I smirk 'Well Greg, I think your source was right, she's outstanding in every way. But I think Wendy makes a better chance than you do.' Wendy's head snaps so fast in my direction that I almost hear it crack, she's blushing fiercely even in the semi-darkness I can tell.

Greg also looks at me with disappointment evident on his face 'Why?'

'Come on! Tell me you noticed?' he shakes his head slowly not quite sure what he should have seen 'Sofia, tell me you noticed?'

'Yup, I did.' She smiles and takes another sip of her glass.

'Warrick, Nick?' but they also don't have a clue what I'm talking about.

'Oh come on! You guys are so oblivious.' The confusion only increases on their faces. 'She's definitely gay!'

They almost choke on their drinks, looking at me like I sported a second head or something. I don't believe this, they're qualified investigators but none of them noticed. When it comes to these things men are always in denial, especially if the woman is gorgeous. And well she is. Wendy's blush has only increased by my statement and she finds her shoes or better the darkness she's staring at way too fascinating.

'Let's dance!' I announce and they all follow my lead. We dance until our feet can't take it anymore then we settle back in the lounge and enjoy a variety of cocktails and talk about the music, the interior and all the great stuff about this club. Even the ladies room was quite something and so is the men's room according to Nick and Greg. Grissom definitely knows great people, I can't wait to tell him all about this tomorrow.

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_**So this was the first chap, if you like it don't hesitate to tell me. If you don't like it, tell me too. What do you think, should I continue with this story??? **_


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: _First of all thank you all for the lovely reviews! They mean a lot to me, now I know you like my text so I will continue... We know a bit of Catherine's life, now let's see how Sara is doing... ENJOY!_**

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_Sara's POV_

I walk out of my shower and into my bedroom, one quick glance at my clock and I realize I have time enough left to get ready, eat something and head out to my club. First I have to decide what I'm going to wear, relatively easy. I open my dresser and after a couple of moments I pick out one of my outfits and get dressed in no time.

I walk into my kitchen and hear the sound of my cell, only problem is where did I leave it… I'm glad I actually hear it, after work I once or twice (mostly even more) go home with one of the _ladies_ from the club, we always go to their houses never mine. First of all I don't want them to know exactly where I live, second of all that would mean I have to stay with them till morning or noon depending on the hour we get back and I don't do relationships or other sappy stuff. We have wild mind-blowing sex and then it's time to go. It happened a couple of times I left something behind, if it are clothes I don't bother to get them back, but my keys, cell or any other important things I have to get back, hence me being relieved I can hear my cell.

After looking for it, I find it under one of the cushions on my couch. 'Sidle.'

_'Hi Sara, it's me.'_

'Hi Griss, how are you?' it's my longtime friend Gil Grissom, I smile into my phone it's always nice to talk to him.

_'Good and you?'_

'Fine I guess, but hey you know me.' I pause and decide to cut right to the chase. 'Is there something you want? Or is this just a call to socialize?'

_'I need something… my team asked me a couple of weeks ago if I would join them when they were going clubbing…'_ he trails off, I know he likes, no loves his team very much and he feels bad for not wanting to join them, it's just not his cup of tea.

I can better release him from this burden 'I see, do you need a VIP-pass for my club? They can bring as many people as they want…'.

'_That would be great. How did you…'_

'Know you were going to ask that?'

'_Yes.'_

'How long have we known each other? About 12 years and how long have I been living in Vegas? About 8 and for how long have I owned my club… about 3… and how many times have you been to my club when it was _actually_ open?'

'_Good point, you know that's just not my thing.' _He sounds apologetic.

'Hey don't feel bad, I don't care. I know you and you don't like clubs so why would I blame you?' I try to reassure my friend and it's working. 'About the party for your team…um…the VIP-lounges are all occupied till next Thursday I believe, hold on a sec.' I grab my day planner and go through it. 'Indeed Thursday is good, and for you?'

'_Yes, I'll make arrangements around the lab so they can have the time off to enjoy themselves. Thanks Sara.'_

'You're welcome Gil.'

I close my phone and put it in my pocket. Grissom told me a lot about his team and I feel like I know them but in fact I haven't met them in person. Occasionally Grissom invited me over for dinner but never ever was there any member of his team. He trusts them all with his life but I don't think they know that, Grissom is very private about…well about everything I suppose.

His work is his life, he worked very hard to get where he is now. He is also very intelligent, which made him capable of learning a lot of things and his curiosity made him do many experiments even dangerous ones but he never gave up. He could have been famous as a scientist if he were interested in being famous… Now I come to think of it, I never wanted to be famous either, but yet I am.

Being famous comes in handy sometimes, you get a lot of things done just by asking for it. I never have to wait anymore: not in stores, not to get into the most exclusive clubs, I even get my own private gambling room in any casino on the Strip. But it's also hard to be famous, you have to watch your every step because there's always someone watching you, waiting until you do something wrong. So they can either bribe you with it or go to the press with it and earn money at your expense both ways.

I worked hard to get where I am now and I don't regret any second of it. I admit sometimes it's a bit lonely, but I don't really mind I always have been a loner. I learned to take care of myself at a very young age and I also learned around the same time that you can only trust one person completely and that's yourself. I'm not a cynic, it's just the way I was taught maybe if I had a different childhood I would have an entirely different opinion about certain things. But I don't have any regrets, I made the right choices in life and I'm proud that my club is one of the best.

Well what can I say, I learned from the best. When I first arrived in Vegas I lived in a crappy apartment and after a couple of months I wasn't able to pay the rent anymore so I needed a job badly. I was going through a rough period of my life and I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I visited a gay bar a couple of blocks away from my building and the waitress asked me if I was interested to work for her. I was surprised at first until she explained that I would be good for business.

* * *

_8 years ago_

'Hey you, what can I get you?'

'A beer please.' I'm sitting at the bar, keeping my gaze down. I just found out my money is almost completely gone and I still have to pay the rent this month.

'My… are we depressed, honey?' the awfully friendly waitress asks me.

I just snort and when she puts my beer in front of me, I take a really big gulp and look at her. She's smiling, she seems sincerely concerned about me.

'Let me guess, you're one of those people who thought to find their luck in Vegas, although you don't strike me as the gambling type…you are way too smart.'

'How do you do that, did you all take a course in psychology before you decided to open a bar?' it's a lame attempt at humor, but she doesn't seem to mind.

'No, _we _don't. Maybe some of us do, me…I just learned it from listening to all the depressed people that visit this place. I'm a great listener you see, so if you like to tell me what's wrong, go ahead. It won't cost you extra.' She smiles at me and her little joke even makes me smile a bit.

I tell her my story, of course not all of it just why I came to Vegas and why I am depressed now. She really is a great listener and she's actually interested, that or she is the best actress I have ever seen.

'Well I might be able to help you…' I'm confused and a frown starts to form, she continues 'I have a job for you, you'll have to work evenings and nights but the pay is good. Interested in being a waitress?'

'I'd love to. I don't care about the hours, but why do you ask me? I'm not sure I'm the right person for the job.'

'Don't worry, you are definitely the right person for the job, it will be very good for business, honey.'

'Why is that?'

'Since you walked in here not that long ago, half an hour now I believe…' I nod 'Well about a dozen or more ladies have noticed you and are trying to hit on you. Some of them even slipped their number in your jacket. So you're undoubtedly immensely good for business.'

I go red and put my hand in my pocket wanting to call her bluff, but indeed there are 4 slips in them with 4 different numbers, so I take the job. I never imagined I would enjoy working in a bar so much, but I had a great time. I also came in contact with a variety of lovely women…

Charlie, my boss, taught me all about taking care of a business. She taught me how important it is to invite the right people to your bar, because when they are famous other people read about it in newspapers and magazines and then they'll want to come too. I worked hard and earned a lot of money, I even had some great ideas for the interior and I even suggested to turn the bar into a club one night a month. Everything was a success and I started to earn a lot more money.

* * *

_3 years ago_

'Charlie, can I ask you something?'

'Sure honey.'

'Well, I saw this abandoned warehouse and I was thinking of starting my own club…' I'm really nervous, I want Charlie's full support and I fear she won't give me her blessing. She looks expectantly at me and something in her eyes tells me she already knows what I'm going to ask. 'I was wondering if it would be a good idea to start a club on my own?'

'Sara sweetie, what took you so long? You always come here with these great ideas, I make more money in a month than I did 5 years ago in almost an entire year thanks to you.' She smiles reassuringly at me.

'I had the best teacher.' I return her smile.

'No honey, you have a great mind. You are an incredible intelligent person, I showed you a few tricks and you kept note of them like they were life savers. I suppose you still can quote me to the letter. You have the best memory, I wish I was half as smart as you are…'

I'm blushing, I'm not used to getting these kind of compliments. 'Thanks, but I owe it all to you. If you hadn't offered me that job, who knows what my life would be like now. So you are really okay with it?' I know she is, but you can never be too sure.

'I'm more than okay with it. So when are you buying the place?'

'I … I haven't made a call yet. I guess I wanted you to support me first.' The blush returns full force.

She rolls her eyes at me and smirks but doesn't comment on it instead she says 'Well, then I suggest you make that call now.'

And so I did, I checked the place out the following day. It was about a third smaller than it is nowadays but I didn't care about the size. I bought it and started to rebuild the interior first myself but eventually I had to call in some help. There are certain things I couldn't do on my own, like plumbing and providing the place of electricity: for lights, heating (or better: air-conditioning) and the music stage. Behind the bar area was a small room, I made my office there. I could arrange everything from there, I installed a desk, chair and computer. I isolated the walls pretty good, so it blocks out the hard tones of the music.

When everything was done, it was time for the opening-night. I have never been more nervous in my life, I kept thinking what if no one shows up. But working in a famous bar had some advantage I guess, a lot of people knew me and wanted to check out the place. I had been hiding in my office for the greater part of the day until it was time to get out and open the club.

I went to the door expecting to find maybe a dozen of people there, though when I opened it I could see a couple of hundred people standing there. They were lining up down the block, I was so startled by this I forgot my speech and made one up when I spoke to the crowd. Then it was time to let them in and start the music, again a nervous moment what if they didn't like it. Yet again the opposite was true, they loved the place and the music. Seven hours later people were still waiting outside to get a glimpse, so I decided to change the crowd every 3 hours.

When I came home I started writing down new ideas and designs for my club and almost didn't sleep from excitement. When the first week was over, I had to close the club for one night and I slept the entire night and day. Running a club is harder than you think, I have to meet people, choose DJ's and book them, check the liquor stock, invite famous people, book artists, hire the best waitresses, …

Suddenly everyone wants you to be their friend, I'm not only talking about the partying people that visit Shakespeare I'm talking about business managers, casino owners, lawyers, politicians, you name it. Wanting to become a friend or an acquaintance means having dinner parties, regular parties even openings and inviting me. I couldn't turn them down, all of this was overwhelming and I decided to become very private about my personal life.

I moved to a nicer apartment, it's more like a small loft but I didn't buy it just because I could, but because it was the nicest place in the neighborhood of my club. So I don't need to drive to work and I liked the place from the minute I set foot in it. Nobody knows where I live, not even my few close friends. When my name appeared in the local newspaper I decided it would be better to hide my home, that's why I chose this shabby looking building, it's only shabby on the outside but most people don't know that.

Six months later I expended the place and another 6 months later I provided it with VIP-lounges. I like to see people having a good time, so I keep changing the place until it's optimized. Most people visiting my club are women, gay women to be exact probably word got out that the lesbian from that famous bar was opening a club. Not that I mind, but it wasn't my intention to start a lesbian club. It still isn't... not really, a lot of men visit the place too and also a lot of straight women. Or at least I suppose they're straight…

* * *

I always enter the club from a back alley, so people won't notice me and today it's not different. I sneak into my own club and walk to my office, I quickly check my paperwork and listen to my messages. Shakespeare has been open for only half an hour now, nevertheless the place is packed, it's so unreal. I walk out of my office and greet the people working the bar today. The first one I encounter is Lucy.

Lucy is the best, she's 24 which is still young but she has great people skills. She can read people better than most psychoanalysts and she always knows what they need. She helps me come in contact with interesting people. She's head of the VIP-lounges, which means she's responsible for their wellbeing. She makes every single person in this club feel like a VIP though, which is very important. She has been working for me for about two years , I met her in a diner. I was eating lunch and working on some new designs, she walked past me and knew who I was, she sat down and started talking to me about clubs and how important it is to hire the right people. She had a great mind and interesting views, so I offered her a job. The fact that she's mesmerizing and was hitting on me had nothing to do with it although some people assume that I only hired her because she is wild in the sack. I wouldn't know, I have a strict rule never to bed any of my employees.

The second bartender is Tim, he's a bit older than Lucy, he's 28 and _too gay to function_. But he is one of the funniest and most hardworking people I know. He is overly social and cheers everyone up, especially those who need it the most. He is also a matchmaker, he enjoys hooking people up and I have to say he has an eye for this. Most couples he brought together, are still very happy with each other.

The third one is Karen, she's a bit shy but an incredible cocktail girl. She makes the best cocktails you've ever tasted and she invents her own concoctions which is terrific, now Shakespeare has it's own unique cocktails. She doesn't interact a lot with the crowd but she's always friendly and in a good mood. When I met her, she was probably the only living human being in Vegas that didn't know me. We bumped into each other on the street and she apologized, like me, but she didn't seem to know me. I started talking to her, being a bit withdrawn myself helped I suppose because we had a conversation about everything and nothing and when I asked her if she would want to work for me, she asked me what kind of work it would be. So I told her who I was and what I did, she was excited in her own special way and accepted the offer.

When I am greeting Karen, people start to notice me. Three woman are hitting on me at the same time and I'm still behind the bar. Another one hands me what I suppose is her number and winks at me. I walk around the bar and everyone I pass greets me or hits on me or tells me they love my club or me. Some girls definitely have _potential_, so I agreed to see them some time later, if they're not too drunk one of them might actually take me home.

Like every night I get up on the stage and greet the crowd, the regulars already know this and they love it. I believe they're secretly hoping I might do a little pole dance, not by any chance… I glance up at the VIP's and decide to greet them, like I always do. Tonight they're all female teachers, always an appealing crowd to have a conversation about something else than partying but not for too long. I have thought about becoming a teacher once, but I changed my mind…

After my conversation with the VIP's I walk to the door and greet the bouncer, Tricks. She's one massive woman with a very big heart. She always wears a suit and when you don't know she's a woman you might mistake her for a man. Her build scares everyone which is a good thing, she never had to use violence in the past to ask someone to leave or to deny someone access. I like that about her and also the fact that she's really sensitive. When I turn to leave Tricks pats my back and I almost collide with the door, damn the muscles on that woman!

I go back inside and talk to the DJ of the evening, then I head back to my office and plan the rest of this week. When I'm done with my work, I exit and now…it's time to party!

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_**Thanks for reading! For those who don't know me yet, I'm a review-addict, meaning the more reviews I get the faster I update ;-)! So keep them coming!! **_


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:_ Thank you so much for the lovely reviews! As I promised...here is the next update! Enjoy!  
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_Catherine's POV_

Although I had hoped to meet this enigmatic person, Sara Sidle, I didn't get the chance when we were at Shakespeare. I went home and dreamt that night of a woman standing on a stage, giving me a private show. She slowly took off all her clothes until she was only wearing a hat, then she threw the hat to me and I caught it. When I looked up at her, I saw who she was… Sara.

My little dream didn't really disturb me, I knew since I was 19 that I'm attracted to both men and women. Actually I prefer women a bit more, not for the reason that my ex-husband was a cheating scumbag because I truly loved him but my relationships with women have always been more intense. When I fall for a woman I fall hard, really hard. We click physically and emotionally. When I fall for a man there's always a part of me that keeps its guard, our connection just isn't as strong and I can't explain fully why...

Something about Sara got to me, she peeked an interest in me. I'm not going to say I have feelings for her, because that would be a lie. I hardly know the woman, we haven't even spoken with each other, but I'm definitely attracted to her. I'm not a 'type' woman, I don't believe in types I believe you fall for a person because there's something attractive about him or her, sometimes you like someone because you find this person beautiful but then you talk to them and you find them less attractive because they are not that interesting. Or you don't find anything special about the appearance of this person but their intellect makes you like them nonetheless and then you start to notice special things about their look that you didn't notice before… Well I'm hoping that I still make sense, all I'm saying is I don't do types, there is a lot more than just beauty or appearance if you ask me.

What I can say about Sara at this point is that she looks great, she's tall and walks with a confident swagger. Her eyes, although I didn't see the color, hold so much emotion someone could easily drown in them. Her toned body is very appealing and I can't help but wonder what it would feel like to touch her. I want to know how she feels and smells. So at this moment I'm only physically interested in her. I don't believe in love at first sight either, but this is definitely attraction at first sight.

I thought I could find out more about her through Grissom, but he kinda eluded my questions about her. I wasn't really being straightforward with him, I just wanted to learn more about her without being obvious but it was like he didn't even know who I was talking about so I dropped the issue and started talking about something else instead.

* * *

We are all sitting in the break room and I'm ranting about Shakespeare and its owner, the guys are listening to me or I assume they're listening to me. Nick is reading a forensic magazine, Greg and Warrick are playing a videogame. Suddenly Greg turns around and looks at me with an exasperated look on his face 'Catherine, I know we had a great time… And I still remember what you said about Sara Sidle being gay, but … you seem to have a huge interest in this woman… Do you have to tell us something?'

That was to be expected, I guess they're all sick and tired of me going on about a woman I barely even know. Which is rather strange for them because they all suppose I'm straight. Warrick has turned towards me too and his expression matches Greg's. Nick on the other hand is smirking behind his magazine. Warrick is the first to speak 'Maybe you should bribe Grissom into getting us some extra tickets…'

'Yeah man, that would be awesome count me in!' Nick adds still smirking.

'Me too, and maybe we could arrange it that Catherine actually gets a chance to talk to Ms. Sidle then maybe just maybe she shuts up about her.' Greg says.

I shoot him a death glare and the others who were laughing with Greg's statement immediately return to what they were doing without laughing. 'Well Greg if it bothers you this much, maybe you should arrange something with Grissom…' with that I get up and walk to my office.

I'm not mad at them, not really. I can understand that they feel this way, now I come to think of it I have been a bit annoying, since that Thursday night two weeks ago I have been talking about nothing much except the club and Sara Sidle. No wonder their patience ran out… I feel my cheeks grow hot and I know I'm blushing from embarrassment. Thank god the blinds are down, so no one sees me in this state.

* * *

_'Visitor for Gil Grissom' _sounds through the intercom of the lab, I look up from my work and frown. Grissom has a visitor at this hour, I glance at my watch and see it's almost 6 AM. Which normal person would visit someone at this inhuman hour! I leave the lab and walk towards the reception desk as I pass the AV-lab with Nick and Greg in it they decide to follow me.

'Are you going to check Grissom's visitor out?' Greg asks and I just nod, the boys follow me keenly.

We wait round the corner so they don't see us directly, I brought a file so I can pretend to read from it or discus it with the boys. We all wait impatiently for Grissom. Luckily he came from the other side of the lab so he didn't see us, he walks to the reception desk and the receptionist points in the direction of the waiting area. When Grissom approaches the waiting visitor, they stand and greet him with a hug. Well I'll be damned it's SARA SIDLE!

The guys frown at me and I can only shrug, in all the years we have worked here she has never come to visit Grissom. In fact we only know since a couple of weeks he is a friend of her. They walk towards Grissom's office and I have the instant urge to follow them, my curiosity peeked to no end. But I don't move, I just remain where I am. Greg nudges me 'Aren't we going to follow them…eavesdrop a bit…' he is smiling widely and looks expectantly at me.

'Aren't you interested why she's here?' Nick asks with the same expectant look on his face.

'Guys, you know how bad it is to eavesdrop on a private conversation…' they look at me like I just ran over their puppy 'But…I'd love too.' Their smiles return as we head in the direction of Grissom's office. Warrick notices us and wants to know what we're up to, we fill him in and he follows us too.

We are all very excited and are speculating wildly why she's here until we arrive at our goal. We stand against the door, pushing and nudging each other to hear more of the muffled conversation. Which off course results in us hearing even less and add the fact that we're making a scene, some lab rats have noticed us and they're giving us a questionable look. We are too busy nudging each other that none of us noticed the movement inside the office.

Suddenly the door opens revealing us trying our best to eavesdrop until we hear Grissom say 'Well Sara meet my team. Normally they behave themselves better.' He gives us a stern look, but I notice he's amused.

Sara who's standing next to Grissom, smiles also at us probably thinking we resemble a kindergarten 'Hello Grissom's team.' Her smile growing.

We just stand there feeling really embarrassed and mumble a _hi_ or _hello_, finding our shoes very interesting. She's looking intensely at us, I assume Grissom told her about us and she's trying to put faces to the names. She's really good 'You must be Warrick.' She says to Warrick and shakes his hand 'Glad to meet you.' She repeats this action with Nick and Greg too.

Then she looks at me and one of her eyebrows quirks up, her smile almost resembles a smirk 'You must be Catherine Willows.' She extends her hand, but I'm too busy watching her eyes, they're brown. She takes a step closer and takes my hand in hers, shaking it lightly breaking me out of my reverie 'Very nice to meet you.' I swear she winked at me, but it could just as easily been my crazy mind playing tricks with me.

'Nice to meet you too.' I reply still holding her hand and gazing in her eyes. I'm also blushing a bit, what is wrong with me. Catherine Willows does not blush when she meets someone, not even if she might want to bed that person! Greg coughs and I release her hand like I'm struck by lightening 'Come on guys, we have work to do.' I announce and walk back to the lab I was working in earlier.

* * *

I'm testing the victim's clothes for GSR when Grissom walks by the lab, he stands in the doorway 'Catherine, my office please?' He turns around and walks away.

I'm a bit startled by the firmness in his voice however I follow him immediately. I step into his office and he motions to close the door. Okay this is officially strange…normally his door stays open.

I tentatively sit down in one of the chairs in front of his desk, he takes off his glasses and looks at me. 'Curiosity is a woman's first sin, is it not?'

I give him a mystified stare but either he doesn't notice it or he decides to ignore it because he just smiles at me without explaining himself. When I remain silent for what feels like minutes he continues 'I have good news for you, next Thursday you and the guys have the night off to go to Shakespeare.'

A smile forms at the corners of my mouth and I start thanking Grissom, he just holds up his hands cutting me off 'Don't thank me, thank Ms Sidle she's invited you personally.'

Wow, I'm not totally surprised by the gesture but still this wasn't what I expected. I guess it's party time next Thursday!

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_** Thanks for reading! So their first meeting didn't go as Catherine would have expected but they were finally introduced! Want to know what happens next and you don't like waiting...then you know what you have to do :-)! Give me reviews!**_


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: _Thanks for the great reviews! Here's the next one, enjoy!_  
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_Sara's POV_

I visited my good friend, Grissom, because I wanted to talk to him in person about Lady Heather, she has asked me if she could use the club for one night to have a 'special' party. She's famous in Vegas like me, but I have never met her in the flesh. Grissom does know her, he told me about their 'relationship'. Therefore I wanted to know his opinion about the party.

We were sitting in his office which is kind of creepy-looking, until I saw most of the things in the jars and terrariums are his pet bugs. Suddenly we heard a commotion on the other side of his door. His teammates were trying to eavesdrop on our conversation. I can't blame them, I would be equally curious about it as they are. Maybe I should have visited him at home but I know I can always catch him here.

Grissom opened his door and revealed his _busted_ friends, the whole thing was hilarious. Finally I saw them in person, finally I could put a face to the name. One of them definitely got my attention, the only female on his team…Catherine Willows.

Catherine is a very beautiful and sophisticated woman, she still caries herself as a dancer although dancing is long in her past. She was nervous, I suppose by being caught in this awkward situation. I had to take her hand and when I shook it she snapped back to reality and stared into my eyes. I noted how blue and intense her eyes were. I believe Catherine is one of those women who always get what they want. I like her confidence and if she wasn't a close friend of Grissom I would have gotten her in my bed… Too bad actually because she is seriously hot!

Then all of a sudden she bolts out of view because she had work to do. I turned back to Grissom and told him his team is always welcome at the club. In fact one Thursday a month I will make sure the VIP-lounge is available for them.

* * *

'Hello, I'm Sara. I've thought about your request and I have some good news.'

'Oh, that's great Ms Sidle. Thank you. Come in.' she opens her door further and motions for me to enter her dominion. The place is huge and darkened but actually rather beautiful. I'm absorbing the interior, I can also hear some people scream. Although it's out of pain, I hear pleasure in their voice too.

'Please, call me Sara.' She nods her head a bit reminding me of those ladies in the movies who are very rich and queen-like. I observe her thoroughly, she's dressed in a leather skirt and high heeled boots. Her top is also made of leather and has holes in it, it's all black. I notice she's very beautiful but also fairly intimidating.

She is watching my observation with a raised eyebrow, she likes being watched I can tell. When I'm done with my observation, she looks me up and down and observes me. Her gaze is intense and scrutinizing it makes me feel a bit self-conscious. I'm certain she can't read my body language fully, but when her eyes meet mine I'm sure she reads me like an opened book.

'Okay, Sara only if you call me Heather.' The corners of her mouth twitch a little.

We make some arrangements, because lady Heather wants to put up special decoration. She wants to drape some red curtains around the place and put candles on the tables and the bar. She also wants to install some fake walls with handcuffs and chains on them, I don't know whether it's just part of the adornments or whether they are really going to use them.

'Can I ask you a question?' I ask her 'I'm not familiar with the whole submissive-dominatrix scene and bondage and stuff…are those chains just decoration or are they meant for usage?'

She was showing me her dominion and pieces of the adornments she had in mind, every time checking if I was okay with it, when she hears my question she stops and smirks at me. 'We're only going to use them if you're okay with that. Maybe you could try them too, you'll never know. Although something tells me you are not really into pain. You don't mind biting or scratching even if they hurt slightly but you won't let anyone whip you or spank you. Understandable because being someone's submissive asks a lot of trust, you never trust someone entirely you are too afraid of trusting people, terrified that they might be able to hurt you.'

I'm staring mouth-agape at her without shame, I'm in awe of this woman. We barely said ten words and still she's capable of knowing my worst fears. How does she do that? Truly that makes her a bit terrifying too. I blink my eyes a couple of times, I seem to have a problem concentrating and stopping the train of thoughts that's running through my head. 'I'm okay with it… How do you do that? How can you know so much about me without knowing me.'

She smiles 'Easy, the harder people try to hide something the clearer it becomes. I'm trained to read people to know what they like, not every one can tell you literally what they want, some don't even know… so it's my job to see it. Also in order not to hurt anyone I must be able to read how much they can take and how it makes them feel, especially when they're gagged. Bottom line is it's my job to read people, but I also consider it to be a gift. Not every one can learn it.'

'Oh.' Is all I can come up with.

'I noticed more things about you. You are also able to read people. For some, like you and me, it comes natural. I doubt you're aware of this special ability even though you use it a lot. In your line of business it's also important to know what people want and like. You don't let anyone get close to you, not even your friends. Maybe one or two people know your deepest secrets, but mostly you keep everyone at arm's length. You even push them away if they come too close. I guess nobody really knows you.'

'Until now it seems…' I give her a faint smile, I get really uncomfortable when people try to figure me out. Normally it takes months even years before they know me this well, then I leave them not wanting to tell them more about me. Or they leave me…because they can't life with the fact that I don't trust them blindly. I have the instant urge to run away, but my legs refuse to move.

'It's already too late for that, Sara.' She puts her hand on my arm and squeezes it lightly trying to ease my nerves. I smile at her and know she's right, she already figured out so much about me, why flee now.

'Let's continue our tour and making arrangements.' I motion for her to continue her tour, it takes a couple of minutes but eventually I feel at ease around her. At first it scared me that she knows so much about me just by looking at me, but it's actually easier because now I don't have to answer awkward questions, because I know she won't have to ask any.

The tour was quite fascinating and I enjoyed it, afterwards we drank tea and talked some more. Partly about me but mostly about the party and her guests.

* * *

Lady Heather's party was fantastic, I have never seen so many fetishists in my entire life. That lady knows how to throw a party, the club stayed open even longer than usual they kept on dancing and enjoying the spectacle and the pain. It's been a couple of weeks now, but I still remember it vividly. Since the party Heather and I stayed in touch, I told her she could use the club more often.

I even went to one of the parties at her dominion, it wasn't really my cup of tea so I spent the night in Heather's company. She told me more about her job and her daughter, who was brutally murdered. It was the first time she spoke about it, in that aspect she's very much like me. We both don't like to talk about our feelings and fears. She also told me about her thing with Grissom, it was more detailed than his version. Not that I needed the visuals…

Looks as if Grissom has a dominant side… I'm surprised, I guess I always pictured Grissom as a submissive. Boy was I wrong, though the details were also quite disturbing. When she saw my discomfort, she skipped the details and told the story in general terms. We were drinking a good bottle of wine and the more we drank the closer she got to me. Suddenly she asked me if I was interested in learning how to handle a whip, just a small one that didn't inflict too much pain. She even would let me test my skills on her body, I was taken aback and I believe I drank a bit too much because I said yes.

I can't really remember a lot about that night, because I drank more during my tutorial. When the party was over I wasn't able to drive or even be driven home, so I stayed the night. She brought me to a guestroom and told me I was a quick learner and she was impressed by my skills. The following morning was a bit awkward and we both decided not to talk about it. Or... she sensed my discomfort and decided not to bring it up. I honestly don't know and frankly it doesn't really matter I was happy we didn't. We first talked about it on the phone some days later.

* * *

Today it's Thursday, indeed time for the CSI's of the nightshift to have a party! I called Grissom to confirm they were coming. The same 6 that came last time, I know there are 3 women so I told Lucy to put three roses in the VIP-lounge. When I arrive at the club the doors are still closed, I'm really early.

I go to my office and decide to check the stock and the VIP-lounge, when I pass Lucy she tells me she took care of the roses. She has a questioning look on her face, but she leaves the question unasked. I smile at her and tell her to put a bottle of champagne in the ice bucket too. Now she smirks at me 'They must be really special. Mostly you only give a bottle of the house the first time, afterwards it's wine or some cheap kind of champagne. You know the fake kind.' She clarifies unnecessarily.

'Yes I know which kind and I don't think they're special. They're just…'

'Oh one of them must be special otherwise you wouldn't go through this much of trouble.' She cuts me off.

'Friends.' I finish then I add 'And no there is no one special, or else I would have asked you to put one rose there not three. Three stands for the number of women that I'm expecting.' I return her smirk but I note she's unimpressed.

'Whatever you say boss.' She says sarcastically and continues with her work. I return back to my office and lay down on the couch there. I haven't slept much lately and instantly I'm very tired, maybe a quick nap will do me good.

I open my eyes a couple of minutes later feeling well-rested, it takes me some moments before I can look at my watch. When I see the time I realize I didn't just take a nap but slept for 3 solid hours, no wonder I'm feeling well-rested. I hastily get up and throw some water in my face, I wash my mouth too. I look at myself in the mirror, put my hands through my hair and check if I'm presentable. When I am, I walk out of my office and immediately people start to shout my name.

I walk to Karen and ask her 'Why didn't anybody wake me?'

'Sorry, but we tried. When you wouldn't wake up we thought you really needed to rest.' She says apologetic.

'I'm sorry I didn't mean to sound so harsh. It's okay, don't feel bad. I really needed it.' I give her a smile and she returns it.

I look up to the VIP-lounge and see the CSI's are already having a great time, they're drinking cocktails and are dancing. I smile to myself, it always makes me happy to see people have so much fun. It looks like they can use it too. When I walk through the crowd some girls come up to me, hoping to get the chance to leave with me but I'm not in the mood. Which is strange… well I guess everybody has their off-days. I turn them down nicely and realize I still have to speak to the crowd so I walk to the stage.

After my little welcome speech I return back to the bar, half way there I bump into someone who seemed in a hurry to get somewhere.

'Oh shit, sorry I didn't see you.' When I look up at the apologizing woman, I become aware of the fact that she's one of my VIP's. 'Hi, I don't believe we've met.' I hold my hand out for her.

She shakes it and introduces herself 'No, we didn't. I'm Sofia Curtis.'

'I'm Sara Sidle.'

'Yeah, I kinda know that.' She replies matter-of-factly. We're still holding hands, we both don't seem to mind.

'So you are the famous Sofia Curtis, nice to meet you.'

'Likewise, seems like someone told you a lot about me.' she smiles then she looks down at our joined hands. 'Could I have that back, please. I might need it later on.' Then she winks at me.

I release her hand 'Course. I wouldn't say he told me that much. I know you were a CSI who became a detective because that's what you always wanted to do. I know you're very dedicated to the job and that you're single. You're also very beautiful, Grissom forgot to mention that.'

She blushes a bit by my statement but her body language doesn't show that, on the contrary she looks more confident then only seconds ago. 'Well, I have to say you look much better in real life too.' She smirks and stares deeply at me. 'I saw you brush off a couple of ladies not so long ago. Not in the mood.' I want to say something but before I have the chance she continues 'Or just not in the mood for girls.'

The meaning of her statement does not go unnoticed. I thought she was straight, she might be somewhat butch but being butch doesn't imply you're gay but I have the feeling she's flirting with me. In fact she coming on to me, which I'm not used to or not like this anyway. Normally I'm the conqueror, so I'm not good at being the prey it makes me blush and stutter like a schoolgirl with her first crush.

'Who knows.' I wink at her, desperately trying to get back in my roll of conqueror.

But she doesn't give up that easily 'Well if you are in the mood for something other then little girls, come and find me. Now I really have to go.' I just smile at her and when she's away I look up to the other VIP's just in time to see Catherine looking away quickly. Looks like she was watching the interaction between Sofia and I. _Interesting…_

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_**Thanks for reading! You want to know what Catherine was thinking...**__  
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	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: _I had some internet problems yesterday... But they're all solved now, so here is the update! Enjoy! And thanks for the great reviews, I love them. _**

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_Catherine's POV_

Only one week to go and we go back to Shakespeare, I'm really excited about that. I hope I'm going to have a chance to talk to Sara, she seems to be a very interesting woman. I'm sitting on my couch with my calendar in hand, since Grissom told me we were invited back by Ms Sidle I have been crossing out the days that are gone. Yesterday is gone too now, I'm thinking about what I'm going to wear when the front door opens.

I hear someone throw a bag across the room, Lindsey's home and she is in bad mood. She walks into the living room and doesn't acknowledge me. She walks towards the stereo and puts some really annoying CD in it and turns the volume up. Then she turns around and looks at me, I smile at her but she doesn't smile back.

'What's wrong now?'

'You.' She states.

'Okay, care to tell me what I did wrong this time?'

'Mom, you are drooling all over that calendar because you can go back to Shakespeare and I'm still not allowed to come with you, it's so unfair.'

'Well, life is unfair Linds.' My daughter throws me a death glare.

'You always say that, it's annoying! Why can't I come, mom??? I _really really really_ want to go!' she sounds like a small child, it's cute.

'We've already been through this, you are too young.' I pause and wait for her reaction, as I anticipated she rolls her eyes. 'What's your deal anyway? What's so special about Shakespeare?'

She gives me her best 'duh' face and sits down next to me 'Mom, it's the hottest club in town. It would be so cool to tell all my friends, they would be so jealous and you would be the coolest mom in school!' she explains in a patronizing tone. 'It would be great for my social life.'

'What's wrong with your social life now?' again I get the 'duh' face, my daughter thinks I'm definitely stupid.

'Nothing's wrong with it, but how many dates do I have?'

'Not so many, thank God!' she might be a teenager and dating is normal for teenagers but as a mother you don't want to think about your baby daughter and dating.

'Exactly, in a club like that you're bound to meet someone you click with.' Her face lights up.

'Linds, you do know Shakespeare is practically a gay club, how would going there improve your chances for a date.' I'm curious, I thought she knew all about this club then she should know most people who go there are women, lesbians even.

'Mom, please you have been a teenager haven't you? Not that I want to know all the things you did back then because…yuk! But you must know about teenagers and experimenting, how can I know if I only like guys if I didn't try something with a woman?' she looks expectantly at me, clearly it's not just a rhetorical question.

I'm dumbfounded, my jaw drops to the floor. I have always been open-minded about sexuality and I always wanted my daughter to be the same. But I didn't expect that she would actually want to date women. I'm staring at her, maybe this is something we have to talk about. 'Are you interested in girls?'

'I don't know, I might be. The guys I have dated we're great, but I didn't feel a real connection and I can't deny I find some girls in my class attractive too. Mandy for example she has beautiful eyes, they're green and when she smiles I think she's the cutest person on earth.' She has this dreamy expression on her face.

'Finding girls attractive doesn't mean you might be gay. As for not really connecting with boys…that can mean a lot of things, you're still very young maybe you haven't found the right guy yet, when you meet your real love you will connect I'm sure.' Why am I trying to talk her out of this, her mother is bisexual preferring women. _Why does her being into girls make me feel uncomfortable?_

'I thought that was the reason too, but then explain me why I felt connected to some of my best friends?'

'I can't…' I sound beat. Her logic is indisputable, well if she loves girls instead of boys then that's her choice and I'll just have to accept it.

'Mom, you know you're being a total hypocrite right? I mean why do you look so distraught about this, you like women yourself. And it's not like it's your fault or anything, so you don't have to blame yourself.' She has a point, when did she become this smart and this good at telling what I was thinking.

'I'm sorry Linds, I didn't mean to be a hypocrite. If you like girls fine, but you know this could only be a stage?'

'Yes I do, I have read books about it.' she smiles and pats my leg 'Don't worry mom, this could just pass.'

'I'm not worried, I'm surprised I never expected my daughter to like girls and if it's not just a stage, I will be okay with it of course.' I put my hand on hers. 'You are a really smart girl, you know that.'

She smiles widely and changes the subject 'So what are we having for dinner?'

* * *

We're at the club for over an hour and still no sign of Ms Sidle, I have been gazing round the place but haven't seen her. Of course I'm being careful so no one notices, the guys have been giving me a hard time at work because I couldn't stop talking about her meeting with Grissom and the fact she invited us back. Obviously they were just teasing me but still I don't want to give them a reason to tease me here as well.

My body is swaying to the beats of the music, Warrick moves closer to me he thinks I don't spot this but I do. He is dancing close behind me and suddenly he puts his hands on my waist, moving with me to the music. Our bodies in perfect unison, he brings his lips close to my ear and says 'Have you seen her yet?' When his words register in my brain I stop dancing, he becomes aware that I tense slightly and smiles, then he starts to move my body with his hands 'Thought no one noticed?'

I shake my head while a blush creeps up my cheeks. I thought I was being careful not to be too obvious, naturally when your best friends are trained investigators they notice, or at least one of them is bound to do. 'What's so interesting about that woman?'

I turn around and put my hands round his neck, I move closer to him so it looks like we're just dancing, I say in his ear so no one else will hear 'I don't know, something in me is clearly drawn to her. I find her really attractive and … I want to talk to her, she seems pretty fascinating.'

He laughs lightly 'Girl, you got it bad!' he says a bit too loud for my liking, my blush only increases. I give him a playful slap on the arm, then I move closer again.

'I wouldn't say that, I hardly know her…'

He cuts me off 'But you obviously want to know her. Cath you're almost obsessed by her or by wanting to meet her.'

I don't deny it, however I don't tell him he's right either. We just dance for a couple of moments longer until I'm very thirsty, I walk over to our table and sip from my cocktail while watching the dancing crowd below. All of a sudden I see my 'obsession', according to Warrick, walk out of her _wall_ again. I observe her more closely and see that her hair is slightly tangled and her clothes are a bit wrinkled, she also has small dark circles round her eyes. So that's why she hasn't been on the stage yet, she has been sleeping.

My eyes follow her, it's like I'm not able to tear them away. She talks to one of the barmaids, the girl obviously feels guilty about something until Sara reassures her I guess because the girl looks up to her and smiles. The moment Sara walks away from the bar a trail of young women follows her but she brushes them off one by one, clearly someone isn't in the mood tonight. I smile to myself, somehow I feel good about this. She walks over to the stage and welcomes her guests.

Then she hastily walks back to the bar area, my heart beat increases maybe this time she'll come over here. For a moment I didn't follow her because I was lost in thought so I can't find her directly between the partying people. When I notice her, she is talking to a familiar looking female. When I have a better look, I see Sofia talking to Sara! Some people are so lucky, why couldn't I go to the toilets! I watch their interaction, and notice how uncomfortable Sara feels for a moment, strange she seems so confident. She collects herself rapidly though. I wonder why she lost her coolness for a while, until I see the big smirk lingering her lips. OH.MY.GOD! Sofia is hitting on her!

After what feels like an eternity they finally part, she looks up to where I'm standing as if she feels my gaze on her. I look away as quickly as I can, somehow I doubt I was fast enough. I don't dare to look at her again and when I do at last, she's gone. _Damn!_ I put my drink back on the table and look at the guys, Nick and Greg are still dancing but Warrick is watching me with a quirked eyebrow and a big fat smirk.

Luckily he chooses not to mention a thing, but I'm sure he will some time later. For now I'm just going to ignore it too and enjoy the party. Again we danced until our feet couldn't take it anymore but Sara didn't come up here, that made me a little sad.

* * *

'Hi Wendy, could you please test this ASAP?'

Wendy is working on some evidence and looks up to me. 'Catherine, you clearly see I'm a bit backed up here.' She sounds cranky and now I see the dark circles under her eyes.

'Sorry of course' a light bulb goes off in my head 'But if you move mine up on your stock - let's say the next one that gets processed - I will make sure you won't regret it.' I wink at her for good measurement.

'Okay I'll take you up on your offer.' She smiles and winks back at me. I knew that would work on Wendy, from the first moment we met she made it obvious that she was interested in women, more precisely in me...

'Good thank you.' We start talking a bit about what I have in mind as 'payment' until Sofia walks in. I look quizzically at her 'Hi Sof, what brings you here?'

'Hi Cath, well I came to ask if Wendy was done processing the samples I brought her earlier.'

'You brought her samples, since when is that part of the detectives' job?' I ask a bit upset, Sofia was a great CSI and she's an even better detective but why would she bring DNA samples to Wendy…

'It's not, I just did someone a favor.' She starts to explain 'Besides if I bring samples in they always get top priority.' Then she winks at Wendy, who blushes. When I look at her she immediately returns to processing the samples. I'm completely dumbfounded, what is Sofia playing at?

Sofia exits the lab and I follow her 'Curtis, a word please. My office.' She turns around but I don't wait for her, I just walk towards my office expecting her to follow me. I sit down behind my desk facing the doorway waiting for Sofia, only seconds later she walks in and closes the door. 'Sit down.' I tell her friendly and she complies.

'What is it, Catherine?' she asks impatiently but friendly.

'I don't get you, first I see you flirting with Sara Sidle now Wendy too…'

'Wendy first actually, I have been flirting with her from the moment we met I believe. Sara Sidle was just opportunity.' She pauses 'Don't worry, I'm not serious with her.'

'What makes you think I'm worried?' I ask confidently.

'The fact that you brought it up, I know Wendy always showed an interest in you but you never acted upon it only when you can use it in your benefit. Wendy knows that but she doesn't mind, actually she takes advantage of you. You know if you would just ask her to process your samples first she would do it without thinking about it. But you always offer her something and of course she lets you.' She laughs which makes me feel stupid, she continues 'So me flirting with Wendy doesn't mean anything to you, me flirting with Sara obviously does. You do know you have been talking about her nonstop?'

'You're exaggerating.' I tell her.

'No I'm not, ask anyone even Grissom.' She laughs again now it results in me blushing 'Maybe you should ask him her number.' She stands and leaves my office almost laughing her head off.

I know she's right, I have been badgering everybody with my annoying ranting about one Sara Sidle. The more I have seen her the more captivating she became. Also add the fact that everyone in Vegas has already met her except me. I know I'm being dense but I really want to talk to her, something tells me we could talk for hours. And if I talk to her then maybe I can figure out why I'm this drawn to her and why I can't stop talking about her. On the other hand it could also mean we don't have a lot to talk about at all but then at least I'll know. I don't like to be unsure about something and I'm definitely unsure about this 'thing'.

* * *

'Mugs.'

'Sam? What are you doing here?'

'Can't a father visit his daughter at work?'

'Sure he can, but this is probably the first time… what's wrong?'

'Nothing, I just wanted to see you it's been a while.'

'Somehow I'm not convinced that's the only reason. But everything is fine as you can see, only a bit busy that's all.'

'I see you're fine and I'm glad about that, but do you take enough time off Catherine? You look like you could use some time off.'

'Nah, I'm just tired nothing new about that. How are you?'

'I'm good, thanks. Can I suggest something?'

'Sure.'

'Why don't you come to this party at the Rampart next week, I'm going to present my plans for Eclipse – you can bring someone if you like.'

'Is this your way of finding out if I'm seeing someone, Sam?'

'No it's not. Catherine it would mean very much to me if you would come.'

'That depends, are you going to take my mother or some other bimbo, you use as publicity stunt?'

'I'll take your mother if that's what you want, if that means you'll come I'll be happy to.'

'I'll see Sam, I'm not promising you anything though I will do my best to attend your party.'

He smiles at me and walks away, I knew he didn't just come to see how I'm doing.

* * *

_**Thanks for reading!**_


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: _This chap is slightly shorter than the others, but I promise you'll like it ;-)! At least I hope you do... ENJOY! And don't forget to review :-)._**

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_Sara's POV_

I'm invited to this party by my acquaintance Sam Braun, there are only a bunch of people invited. Mostly his business partners, a few close friends and of course some famous people, they're always good for publicity. I'm still not sure to which category I belong to, in fact I belong to all three of them. I'm doing a little business with him, namely I arrange parties for him at the casinos he owns. I wouldn't call myself a friend, but we definitely know important things about each other and I'm famous.

I'm looking around, I know a lot of people here but don't feel the need to interact with them. Most are only interested in themselves, they pretend to be friends but don't really listen to the things you've got to say. I'm holding a glass with champagne and I'm observing some pieces of art, when Sam walks up to me. He puts a hand on my back and leans closer 'Ms Sidle, care to accompany an old man?'

I nod and he leads me round the place, until we're standing in front of a large scale model of his new casino 'What do you think of it?'

'It looks large.' I tell him honestly.

'You're always so sober.' He laughs 'I know it's large, Sara. What do you think about the idea?'

'I like it, you clearly thought things through. There are more suits, more private rooms, more room for extra tables. Also the security is much better than it is in here. I'm impressed.'

'I'm glad you're impressed, you see I'm not this young anymore and you never know what might happen with me. I believe you know what happened to my sons. So you see I have a little predicament, I need someone who's a real leader and knows how to take care of a business. Would you be interested in being the new owner of Eclipse when I'm not around anymore?'

I gawk at him, this was not what I was expecting… I honestly don't know if I'm capable of running a casino, I admit I know how to run a business but a casino is not just any business, it's tough. 'Sam, are you serious?'

'Of course I am, do I look like the kind of man that jokes around about serious stuff?'

'No, definitely not. But this is something I have to think long and hard about and I don't really know how to run a casino.'

'Never mind that, I'll teach you. You'll become the best I promise.' He starts to lead me around the place again, while further explaining his motivation to ask me and trying to convince me that running a casino isn't that hard. We stop in front of a small group of people and he turns to me 'Wait here for a moment, there's someone I want you to meet.'

I'm still contemplating his offer, when I spot a familiar woman walking next to Sam towards me. When she sees me a grin spreads across her face, I can't help but grin back at her, her smile is contagious. She's also mesmerizingly beautiful, she's wearing a low-cut blue dress her hair is curly, she's also wearing a necklace it stops just above her cleavage. Of course my eyes don't stop there, they glance over her beautiful breasts all the way down to her stunning legs.

Sam coughs to get my attention 'Sara, I want you to meet my daughter - Catherine.' That definitely gets my attention, she's his daughter… He wants me to run his casino but never told me he has a daughter too. I look at Catherine who's taking in my appearance, she certainly likes what she sees because she's staring boldly, still smiling appreciatively.

I look back at Sam 'We kind of met before, although I didn't know she's your daughter.' He smiles proudly at me, it's clear he's very fond of his 'girl'. I hold my hand out to Catherine and this time she takes it without hesitating 'Hello again, Catherine.'

'Hello Sara.' We don't immediately let go of each other's hand and Sam looks a bit uncomfortable. He excuses himself and leaves hastily. I let go of her hand and smile at her. 'Finally I'm meeting you.' She's surprised she actually said those words out loud, my smile transforms to a smirk.

'And why is that?' I ask her fascinatingly.

'Didn't mean to say that out loud.' She defends her little word-vomit. 'But yes I'm glad we did. What brings you here?'

'Your father invited me, we have known each other a couple of years now. At first I didn't really want to come, I don't like these kind of things. But I couldn't do that to him.'

'Yeah, I understand what you're saying. I didn't want to come either, but now I'm glad I did. Never in a million years did I think I was going to meet you here.'

'Neither did I.' she looks at me and we lock eyes, she trying to read me giving me the opportunity to look into her soul. She has nothing to hide unlike me, she's a very confident woman, she never regrets her actions. She's intrigued by me, I can see that. 'You want to go outside, the view is stunning from up here and it's a bit more peaceful there, so we can talk.'

She immediately complies and we walk towards the balcony, I open the door for her and she steps outside, I follow her and close the door behind me. Just before I walked out, I took two glasses of champagne and now I hand one to her. She excepts it looking a bit puzzled about where the glasses come from, I just wink at her making her blush. 'So tell me Sara, what's it like to run a club?'

'Right to the point with you obviously.' I smile at her and continue 'It's great actually, I won't say it's always easy, it takes hard work but I enjoy every minute of it. Going home almost every night with a different person really is a great bonus.'

'It is?' she sounds really interested.

'Yeah, I'm not the type to settle down, I like being free. That doesn't mean I won't ever think about it - when I meet the right person - but for now I like it. Enjoy myself as much as possible no strings attached. How is it being a CSI?'

She starts to explain me how fun it is to solve a puzzle, being the crime, every time and putting bad people behind bars. She also tells me it's not fun all the time, sometimes they just have to wait and wait until the results are back and the paperwork seems to be really boring too, but that pales compared to the feeling of satisfaction her job gives her overall.

'How is working graveyard and raising a daughter as a single parent?' her eyes narrow for a bit, I guess she was surprised I knew she had a daughter or was it something else, I'm not entirely sure.

'Sometimes it's hard, but I manage of course I get a lot of help from my mother and my sister otherwise it would be near impossible. Lindsey, my daughter is a great kid, but she hit puberty and that makes it even harder from time to time. She doesn't really talk to me anymore and I know I'm a bit overprotective of her, being in law enforcement seeing all the murdered and violated teenagers…I just want to make sure my daughter never has to experience something like that.'

I nod my understanding and she continues 'Nowadays she's giving me a hard time because I don't allow her to go to your club. She really wants to go with me, but I tell her she's too young. Naturally she doesn't see the problem.'

'Yeah, figures. You would be amazed how many teenagers have tried to get access to the club holding fake ID's. Probably some of them even got in without our knowledge. I almost got in trouble once, wanting to go home with a 17-year-old. She told me she was 22 and I believed her, she really didn't look like she was just 17.

'What made you realize?'

'She was telling me a story and accidentally told me she was a high school graduate.' I laugh and take a sip of the glass. Catherine is giving me an awkward look, probably thinking I'm weird because I date women barely older than her daughter, I roll my eyes at her.

'What?'

'Don't give me that look. I don't always date girls that young, 22 I mean. Normally they're older not much though.' she still gives me an awkward look, although I somehow assured her a bit. 'You must know what it's like. You were a dancer and … you still are absolutely stunning, so don't tell me people don't throw themselves at your feet too regardless what age they are.'

'You know I was a dancer? Grissom.' She answers her own unspoken question and rolls her eyes 'You're right I'm in no position to judge you, but I don't take them all home with me.' Touché!

'You should try it, but not bring them home with you, go over to their place. It's always easier.'

We talk some more about where we both went to school, she's impressed when I tell her after I graduated from Harvard, I went to Boston. She tells me all about how she dropped out of school and fled to Vegas where she became a dancer and how she went back to school to get a degree. She's a fascinating woman, intelligent and beautiful that's a rare mixture. She also flirted a bit with me, of course I flirted back but she kept her distance. She's not interested in being my one-night-stand. Understandable.

Sam has spotted us on the balcony and steps outside 'Looks like you two are getting along fine.' He smiles, I wonder if he would still smile if he knew his daughter is into me.

'You have a pretty fascinating daughter, Sam. I'm in total awe.' This makes him beam with pride again.

'Oh I know.'

'You're a very fascinating woman too Sara, I just love talking to you.' Catherine tells me, locking eyes with me again, Sam as observant as ever notices how his daughter looks at me.

'Sara, can I have a word with you. In private.' Uh oh, I guess he's not so fond of his daughter's interest in me. I smile and follow him inside, he wastes no time 'I know your reputation with the ladies, Sara but you have to understand this is my daughter we're talking about. I know she likes women too, she never made a secret of that but you have to understand – if you break her heart, if you even think about bruising it I will hunt you down like a dog and no forensics in the world will be able to tell what happened to you or who you are. Do I make myself clear?' His tone is very threatening and I wince.

'Loud and clear, sir.' He smiles at me and pats my back. Then he walks away, I return to Catherine. We resume our conversation but I seize the flirting, at first Catherine kept flirting with me until she noticed I wasn't reacting to it. She frowned for a minute but didn't say anything about it, disappointed looking she went on with her narrative.

* * *

_**Thanks for reading. So they have finally met! Now where do they go from here? Feel free to share your ideas...**_


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: _Thanks for the lovely reviews, send me more :-)! ENJOY!_ **

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_Catherine's POV_

I'm at my father's party, since I decided to go. He promised to take my mother instead of some bimbo too young for him anyway, so I had to keep my 'promise' too. I knew it would mean a lot to him so… I'm here now and I'm alone. I look around the place and notice a few familiar faces, I walk up to them and we engage ourselves in a meaningless banter. But I'm enjoying myself.

I haven't seen Sam anywhere and I'm already here for a couple of hours. Two to be exact. I glance around the place and on the other side of the room, I see Sam talking to some business partners I assume. He notices me and stops talking, he excuses himself and walks towards me smiling widely, it appears as if he didn't expect me to be here.

'Mugs, you came? Alone?' he frowns.

'Your parties are famous, how could I miss it?' I smile at him, not answering his second question. 'Besides you did your part of the bargain…'

'Your mother is here somewhere, you know her – she knows everyone, or thinks she knows everyone.' He ceremoniously rolls his eyes. 'Since you almost successfully avoided the question if you brought someone, I'm going to guess you didn't…'

'Sam, you're fishing… But no I didn't. I'm not seeing anyone, so what's the point.' I pause for a moment 'Also I was thinking maybe I could pick up someone here.'

He gives me a disapproving look 'Catherine, aren't you a bit too old for that? You should start thinking of settling down.'

I roll my eyes at him and sigh 'I don't know… Did you ever consider that I might be perfectly happy on my own.'

He smiles again 'Of course I did, but somehow I don't think that's entirely true.' A man in a suit walks up to him and taps him on the shoulder, then whispers something in his ear. He looks at me 'Business calls apparently. See you some time later. Enjoy yourself.'

* * *

I'm talking with some women that used to dance with me, some of them still do, when someone taps my shoulder. I turn around to face the person, it's Sam. I also notice someone standing a bit behind him, I have a better look because I think my eyes are betraying me. They're not, it's Sara Sidle in the flesh standing a couple of feet away from me.

'Mugs, I want you to meet someone.' He turns around and I follow him eagerly, too eagerly.

The closer we come, the harder it is to control the grin that's beginning to form on my face. But I can't stop it, she sees me grinning and returns it. She is glad to see me too, my heart skips a beat. She is studying me intensely and I feel my body flush from the sensation of her stare. She's taking in every inch of my body shamelessly, I of course take in her appearance too.

She's wearing black slacks, but it's not leather although it fits perfectly round her hips. She's wearing a tight buttoned-shirt, it's red and a black loose hanging tie. The shirt hugs her curves nicely, giving me an ample view of how round and firm her breasts are. She sees me staring back at her but unlike me she seems unaffected by it. However she clearly doesn't object to it. Sam coughs to get our attention and introduces us to each other. She's very surprised when she learns I'm his daughter, but quickly recollects herself and holds out her hand, which I took in mine rapidly.

I note how soft her skin is and how firm her grasp is, I want to feel those hands everywhere on my body. I hold her hand until Sam excuses himself and disappears from our view, that seems to snap me out of this trance. We start talking like we have known each other for years. She offers to step outside onto the balcony to have a more peaceful conversation and I keenly agree. We talk about both our lives and I think, no I know, there is some flirting too. Well this conversation confirms she's a very fascinating woman, I could talk to her for hours without getting tired of it. I like her take on certain things in life.

After some time Sam joins us 'Looks like you two are getting along fine.' Somehow I believe he implies more with his statement than he lets on.

'You have a pretty fascinating daughter, Sam. I'm in total awe.' Sara tells him, her voice is a bit husky and I almost melt. This was a good move though, Sam is full of pride.

'Oh I know.'

'You're a very fascinating woman too Sara, I just love talking to you.' I reply to her when my speaking organs finally work again. I'm looking directly at her and we lock eyes, her gaze is magnetizing and I feel my body react to it. I have this instant urge to leap into her arms and kiss her senseless. Sam decides to effectively stop me from doing anything.

'Sara, can I have a word with you. In private.' Then he steps back inside and she follows him, they step out of view and I wonder what that was all about. Because I can't see their interaction I don't have a clue what it's about, so instead I reflect on tonight. I'm so glad I came, maybe I'm actually not going home alone. Not that it really was my intention to leave with someone I only said it to upset Sam.

Sara steps back out and we pick up our conversation again, I don't ask her about Sam that would be intrusive and I don't want to chase her away. I flirt some more with her, making it clear I'm _very_ interested in her. However she doesn't return the flirting, I try some more times but she's a lot more distant than she was before Sam showed up. Somehow I think it has something to do with him, I don't dwell on it too long I just tell her everything she wants to know.

We have been talking for what I suppose are hours, but felt like mere minutes. I glance at the time and it confirms it have been hours. It's really late and most people have already left. I didn't flirt with her up until now but that doesn't mean I'm giving up easily though. I walk closer to her and pretend to have a chill running through me, she notices 'Are you cold? Maybe we should go back inside, we have been out here for ages.'

I lean into her and she freezes for a moment, which is strange I frown again at her but don't mention anything. She relaxes a bit 'Outside is good, it's always nicer to be close to someone. Besides you're hot.' And I meant that literally and figuratively.

'You're hot too, so… is that just from standing close to me or did you just fake having cold so you could snuggle against me?' she asks smirking, she's a lot more observant than I imagined or I'm being a lot more obvious than I intended.

My cheeks turn a couple shades of red before I respond 'Both actually.' We lock eyes again, I lean even closer to her bringing my lips inches from hers. Before they touch she pulls away from me and coughs a little. I wonder what's wrong with me, does she not feel the same and is she trying to turn me down gently?

'Well, I'm flattered but it's late and I … um… I think I should better go, I have to work tonight and I don't want to be too tired.' She sounds hesitant and I know she's lying, Sara isn't a good liar: her face blushes and her eyes look everywhere except at me.

I decide to figure out what got into her later, right now I'm somewhat hurt by her behavior. 'Yeah maybe you're right, it is getting late. I should go too.'

She senses my discomfort and knows she caused it, she walks back to me and kisses my cheek softly then she whispers 'Don't worry, it has nothing to do with you. You are a very beautiful and captivating woman and you made my night. Goodbye and I hope to see you soon.' She kisses my cheek again and steps back.

'Goodbye to you too, see you soon.' She smiles at me and then makes a quick disappearance. She says goodbye to Sam and then I can't seen her anymore, I sigh and decide to go home too.

* * *

I'm lying in my bed, although I'm exhausted I don't seem to be able to sleep. I'm staring at my ceiling watching the shadows drifting over it while my mind is busy figuring out what happened between me and Sara and what our interaction actually meant. The way we talked surprised me, it was like we have known each other for ages. I felt so at ease talking with her about private stuff and she seemed to be kind of relaxed around me too.

We definitely flirted with each other, I did and she returned it in kind. Of course she's a natural born charmer so I guess it's her nature but she seemed genuine enough. It felt real, there was real tension between us. I'm not sure if bedding me was her sole intention, that was my first intuitive but the more we talked the more my opinion about her motivation changed. That or I'm just too obsessed with her to see what's really there. Although Sam noticed something too.

Speaking about my father, after he talked with her our interaction changed considerably, she was more distant and there wasn't any flirting anymore. Not that it really mattered, because we talked with the same ease as before and it truly felt like we were connecting. However she turned me down when I made it very clear she could take me home even for a one-night-stand. That woman got so badly under my skin and she's sexy as hell, which person in their right mind would turn her down.

Thinking about it again brings back the hurt I felt, sure I have been turned down before but it never affected me the way it did tonight. Someone could just as easily have ripped my still beating heart out of my chest and replaced it with a nest of fire-ants… Well, that's actually the thing that's bothering me the most, the feeling I got - that I still have. She was able to hurt me, normally I don't let anything or anyone get to me but she penetrated my protection shield like a needle through skin.

I was way more open with her than I have been with some of my closest friends lately and I don't know why. I don't know why I'm feeling the way I do, I don't know what is so special about her. All I know is that I want to be around her as much as possible and I want to feel her hot soft skin beneath my fingertips and lips. I know I don't love her, I'm a too rational person to believe in love at first sight. That only exists in the minds of hopeless romantics at least that's my opinion about the matter.

I can't even say I care for her, true I like her. I like her a lot but what's not to like about her: she's incredibly intelligent, funny, interesting, a good listener, educated, the perfect _gentlem__a__n_, enigmatic and of course extremely good-looking. There's also something secretive about her like she has this big secret no one knows about not even the people closest to her, which only peaks my interest more. Plus she's really interested in my work as a CSI, which was quite intriguing. None of my previous friends have ever shown an interest in my work, they even wanted to know as least about it as possible. But Sara seemed to understand a lot of it, she even used terms…not commonly known for those outside law enforcement.

Of course she has a scientific mind too, so maybe she read about it in some magazine. And she's a friend of Grissom… My body tells me I really need to stop pondering and start to sleep, my legs are hurting from tiredness and the rest of my body is starting to feel sore. I clear my mind and close my eyes. From the moment they're closed images of a mesmerizing Sara flood my vision again. It's no use to try to clear my head, I know it won't work. Instead I turn on my good side and let the images take over until I'm in a deep sleep.

* * *

Paperwork, paperwork and paperwork that's all I have been doing the last three shifts and I'm sick and tired of it. Even the ruffling of paper gives me the creeps, it's so bad that I'm actually hoping someone would commit a crime so I can get out of this place! For a moment I considered committing one myself but then again I wouldn't be able to work the scene…

I sigh deeply and head out of my office, the place was suffocating me. I walk to Grissom's office and ask if something came in, he shakes his head apologetic. I shrug and head for the break room, I'm not in the mood for coffee I drank too much of the stuff as it is but I hope some of the guys are there, maybe they need help. I'm lucky Nick, Warrick and Greg are sitting in the break room, chatting about some common things. 'Aren't you guys working a case?'

'Nope, all done.' Warrick replies, maybe not so lucky after all.

'Too bad, I'm beyond bored!' I sigh dramatically.

They smile at me understanding all too well how it feels to be stuck in the lab with no work whatsoever. They exchange some knowing glances and then it's Greg's turn to say something 'But we do know some really good gossip…'

'Do you now…' I say and plop down on the couch next to Nick 'Please feel free to fill me in.' I smile widely, finally something exciting. If even gossip is interesting things must be really bad for us at work.

'Well, did you know Sofia went back to the club and from what I heard she didn't go home alone.' I listen intently, please don't tell me she went home with Sara. I guess Greg read something on my features because he quickly adds 'It wasn't Sara Sidle she went home with. But a certain brunette, a beautiful funny athletic brunette do be exact.'

I suppose I'm missing something, because the guys are all staring expectantly at me but nothing dawns on me. I'm trying hard to find out what I'm missing but my mind is blank, too much paperwork can do that to a person. 'Why are you all looking at me like that?'

Warrick rolls his eyes 'C'mon Cath, how many beautiful funny brunettes do you know, who also know Sofia?'

Then it hits me 'Wendy?' my jaw drops to the floor.

'Yes Wendy, but the best part… today they pretty much ignored each other. So – either something happened and they feel awkward about it or they try to hide whatever is going on.'

'Good reasoning, Greggo but what if nothing happened and one of them is upset about it and is trying to avoid the other.' I reason.

'Yeah man, you don't have all the bases covered.' Nick adds, agreeing with my reasoning. 'What if Wendy tried to kiss Sofia but she was misreading the signs. So now she's feeling embarrassed…'

'Why would Wendy be the one who tried to kiss the other?'

'Cath, when she first moved here she was putting the moves pretty hard on you.' Nick pauses 'Everyone knew she got it bad for you.'

'Don't tell me you've forgotten the whole 'in-Frisco-we-started-every-day-with-hugs'-speech.' Warrick inquires, of course I haven't forgotten but I don't see the connection.

'What does her flirting with me got anything to do with her trying to kiss Sofia, why couldn't it have been the other way around?'

'C'mon, blonde hair blue eyes…' Greg says.

'What…her flirting didn't work on me, so she goes after the next blonde with blue eyes?' I look at them and they all nod their head. 'Guys that's pretty simple-minded, don't you think. Jeez.' I can't believe them, why are men sometimes so plain. I look at each one of them, but they just shrug. 'And why wasn't Sofia the one who tried to kiss Wendy?'

'Simple, before this rumor started I wouldn't have guessed she was gay, you know with the whole Grissom chemistry thing.' Nick is the first to reply.

'And all the flirting with men she has been doing.' Warrick adds as if this is all the reason we need.

'She even flirted with me.' Greg says blushing a bit.

I roll my eyes and start to laugh 'Yeah right and we all know how good you are in knowing if a woman is gay. You all thought Sara was straight too.' I smirk at them.

'That's different, we don't know Sara personally that was just a lapse of judgment.' Warrick tries to defend their reputation.

'No, you know what it is… you guys can't stand it when a beautiful hot woman prefers women over men, unless she's part of some erotic movie or show.'

'That's so not true.' Greg says, but I'm guessing he's having some pretty colorful visions right at the moment.

'Whatever.' I roll my eyes and decide to find out myself what's going on between Sofia and Wendy. I walk out of the break room still hearing the guys trying to convince themselves they have nothing against hot lesbians.

I walk into the DNA lab and Wendy smiles at me, glancing quickly behind me to see if I'm alone. I take the opportunity 'Are you expecting someone?'

'No, not really. Just wondering if you came alone.'

'Slow night too?'

'Yeah, pretty much.'

'You look tired, everything alright?'

'Yeah why wouldn't it be?' she doesn't sound offended, rather surprised by my concern.

'Well with you having the night off yesterday, maybe you're coming down with something.'

Her face brightens at the mention of last night. 'No, I didn't get much sleep…' she trails off, lost in thought.

'Oh, how come? If you don't mind me asking.'

She blushes a bit but shakes her head 'Not at all, Sofia and I went to Shakespeare last night and we had loads of fun. We pretty much lost track of time and went home really late, it was almost noon, hence me getting not much sleep.'

'That could explain why you look sleepy, but if you got home at noon… it isn't much different from when you work… so it doesn't really explain except… if you didn't go home alone.' Her face turns a couple shades of red, so I suppose I guessed right.

'Well…I…we…. um….' She looks behind me again to check if we're still alone. 'I didn't, but it's not what you think.'

I give her a confused look, I wasn't really thinking anything I was just fishing for information. Wendy is somewhat lost in thought so I give her minute, then she looks up at me again but just when she opens her mouth ready to explain everything, we hear 'Ah Catherine, here you are. You and Warrick have a case, DB in Henderson.'

'Thanks Grissom, did you tell Warrick?'

'No, you were the first to know.' He smiles, hands me the slip and walks back towards his office.

I turn to Wendy again 'Sorry, duty calls. Talk to you later.' I throw her a smile and she returns it half-relieved, half-troubled with something.

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_**Thanks for reading!**_


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: _I had to change the rating because of the content; I still hope you like my story. ENJOY!_**

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_Sara's POV_

I'm slowly opening my eyes, I didn't really sleep just rested my eyes for a short while. I turn my head a bit and notice my neck is sore. My body feels exhausted, I glance at the woman lying next to me and see a couple of angry bite marks gracing her shoulder and chest. I smile at myself feeling a bit proud, that girl had great stamina. But in the end I managed to wear her out.

I met her at the club, she looked shyly at me and that simple action made her more interesting than all the others. I walked over to her, she was standing by the bar waiting for her order. When she saw me coming closer, she looked away and a blush crept up her cheeks matching the color of her hair. She is a bright redhead with sparkling green eyes, her skin pretty fair but in perfect harmony with her look.

She was dressed almost completely in black, making her invisible in the club and I suppose that was the whole idea. She reminded me a lot of myself, she was almost similar in height, lanky, shy and out of place in a club like this. But still having a great time all by herself. I brushed my arm slightly against hers when I turned towards the bar and ordered myself a drink. I felt her gaze on me, she was checking me out pretty obviously however oblivious to herself. I ignored her for a moment, giving her time to get comfortable enough to talk to me.

I slowly turned towards her and smiled warmly, she evaded my gaze instead stared at her drink and blushed deeper 'I haven't seen you here before.'

She giggled timidly and for a moment she reminded me of a schoolgirl although she must be in her twenties 'No, it's my first time.'

'What do you think of the place?' she's becoming a bit more comfortable because she locked eyes with me for a brief moment.

Then she became suspicious, I assumed she didn't know me but she must have seen the swarm of horny girls following me round the place, she narrowed her eyes and made eye contact again 'I might be pretty dense sometimes, but I'm not going to tell the owner her club sucks or something like that.'

'So you think it sucks…'

'I…um…no…yes…I…' she paused trying to come up with the words to explain she didn't mean it like that. I know she didn't mean anything negative with her statement, she was only trying to outsmart me and I twisted her words. 'Erm…I didn't mean it like that, the club is great. I just meant that it would be pretty dumb to tell the owner it sucked, so if you were expecting a straight answer you…'

I cut her trail of words off before she was out of breath 'Who said I was expecting a straight answer?' I picked up my glass and slowly placed the straw in my mouth to sip from my drink, never taking my eyes off her.

She's feeling self-conscious again and looked away, smiling hesitantly. I knew she wouldn't say anything anymore if I didn't start the conversation again. 'What are you drinking?'

'A sunset boulevard I think, according to that bartender it is.' She points in the direction of Karen 'I don't know what she put into it, but there's definitely rum and tequila in it and some other strong liquors, I only had 4 of them and already I'm feeling a bit tipsy.'

I smiled at her, this girl really isn't used of going out, she's probably drinking one of the strongest cocktails we have and she calmly told an almost complete stranger she's already feeling tipsy. That's almost the same as saying _I want you to take me home and well… take me_ but she's unaware of all of this. 'You want another one?'

She nodded her head and I ordered us two new drinks, I handed her hers and she smiled at me thanking me with her eyes. The longer I stood there, the more relaxed she became. She emptied half of her glass and put it on the bar, turning towards me she had this mischievous glint in her eyes. 'Why are you interested in me, when you can have any woman you want in this place.'

This question took me a bit by surprise I supposed she was too shy to be so bold. I know what she means, she finds herself not worthy and not nearly as beautiful and stunning as some of the other girls in here, although she's mesmerizing. If I would tell her the other girls don't compare to her, she wouldn't believe me not even if I would be able to prove it. I smiled at her and said 'True I can have any woman I want in here, but I prefer you. There's something special about you, something none of the others have and that draws me to you.'

She blinked a couple of times not sure she heard it right, when she realized she did she looked up at me with the greatest sparkle in her eyes I've seen all night. She flashed me a full-blown smile and I realize this was the first time anyone said something like that to her and it's the first time she actually believed it. We sat there in silence for some time watching the rest of the people enjoying themselves, until she did something I wasn't expecting at all.

Maybe because of what I had said or maybe because she was slightly drunk, but she stood up from her barstool and pushed her body flush against mine putting her hands on my waist holding me firmly in place making sure I had nowhere to go. She locked eyes with me before leaning in and kissing me gently full on the lips. This simple action had nothing erotic about it but it aroused me to no extent. Her hands ran up my sides and then back down excruciatingly slow, she graced the exposed skin of my stomach with the tips of her fingers. I bit my lip and my eyes fluttered shut.

She put her head in the crook of my neck and started to lick the skin there, dragging her tongue slowly over the heated skin of my neck until she reached my earlobe, she nibbled it and brought her lips next to my ear, breathing 'I'm glad you noticed me, because I promise you a night of endless pleasure.' I was so glad I was propped up against the bar, otherwise I would have landed flat on my ass and that would have been a killer for my reputation.

She took me to her place and we had passionate sex on almost every available surface until we reached her bedroom, there we went on until we were both more than satisfied and also breathless. She was true to her word, she gave me a night or better morning of endless pleasure. She is one of the few that really know how to please me, normally I'm the one to give the other pleasure, rarely the favor is returned. Sometimes they're just not good enough other times they're too tired and before they wake up I'm already gone.

I don't know what it is about her but I don't want to leave without saying goodbye so I lay here watching her dream until my eyes are too heavy to stay open. I put my head on the pillow and let myself drift off to sleep.

When I regain "consciousness", I'm already turned on. I try to figure out if I dreamt something but when my body wakes up entirely I feel a hand touching me. It's slowly running over my stomach and breasts, teasing my already erect nipples. A moan escapes my lips, but I don't dare to open my eyes, afraid that the sensation will stop if I realize this is just a very lively erotic dream. I feel someone kissing my neck and shoulder, trailing kisses all over my body. Stopping at my breasts and gingerly licking and biting my hard nubs.

I feel a tongue tracing down my body, all the way down to my wet center. Someone places themselves between my legs and licks my folds ever so slowly, the wetness only increases. A very skilled tongue twirls around my hard clit and wet folds until they part, when not one but two fingers enter me I open my eyes and realize this is not a dream. My sweet redhead has recovered and is up for round two. She pushes her fingers in and drags them back out completely, only to push them back in harder and deeper. She repeats the same process increasing the pace a bit.

I'm writhing and grinding my body to increase the contact, but she's the one in control. She decides the pace and the amount of contact. When I feel my climax reaching, she takes her fingers and tongue away from me. I open my eyes, pleading her silently to continue she just smirks at me, looking pleased at my writhing body. I'm about to die from need of contact, my climax hanging there and me unable to reach it. If she doesn't end this soon, I'm going to do it myself. Just when I'm reaching for my own wetness, she enters me with three fingers pushing me over the edge. I scream out of pleasure and feel wave after wave pass over me.

'Good morning, beautiful.' She says smiling a couple of minutes later.

'Good morning indeed.' I croak out.

'You want coffee?'

'Sure, but could you just give me a minute I don't think I'm able to stand just yet.' I smile at her and she blushes. Incredible, after everything she did to me words still make her blush.

'Sorry about the wake up call.' I'm about to tell her I didn't mind one bit but she continues 'But from what I've heard you normally don't stay this long, so I had to take advantage of the situation and be one of the few to give you pleasure right after you wake up.' she smiles at my puzzled expression. 'How come you stayed?'

'Told you, you are special.' Before she was blushing, now her face turns bright crimson. 'But…'

She cuts me off 'If you think for one moment I'm looking for a relationship you're wrong, although you're amazing in bed among other places, I'm not that desperate.' She doesn't look offended but her voice is firm.

'I wasn't going to say anything like that. I was going to say I knew from the moment you took me home I wasn't going anywhere before saying a proper goodbye.' Her smile returns and she slaps me playfully on the arm. She stands up and walks out of her bedroom wearing nothing but skin.

After I drank my coffee, I got dressed and am ready to go. She walks me to her door and for a split second the atmosphere around us is a bit awkward. She is watching her feet while she holds the door open for me. I hook a finger under her chin, forcing her to look up at me, when she does I kiss her lightly on the lips. 'Goodbye, hope to see you again.'

'Goodbye Sara, it was nice.'

'No' I laugh lightly 'It was much more than just nice, it was wonderful.'

She smiles widely at me while blushing again 'Yeah, it was.'

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I walk through my front door and throw the keys on the table next to it. I loose my jacket and walk over to the kitchen, I start my coffeemaker and check my messages. I have one from the electricity provider reminding me to pay the bill which is due in a couple of weeks and one from Sam Braun. Strange I didn't know he had my number, his message is all cryptic and it takes me a while to figure out what he was talking about.

_Sara, it's Sam. I'm sorry to call you at home but it's urgent. Could you meet me as soon as possible I have to talk to you about something … __erm__… my Siamese swallowed a dice. I need you to help me with that._

Sam Braun asking someone for help was strange, it sounded strange too. You could clearly make out the embarrassment in his voice. I chuckle softly at this. I sit down on my couch while playing it again. Siamese I know he wasn't referring to a real cat, wait a minute maybe he is. He is referring to Cath-erine as in his daughter. That was the easy part but what does he mean by swallowed a dice… A dice most likely stands for casino that one is pretty obvious too but why swallowed…

After ten minutes I still haven't found the answer so I decide to pay him a visit, it's still fairly early but I assume I will get a chance to talk to him if it's this urgent. The word swallowed bothers me a bit, because when you bite off more than you can chew swallowing leads to choking and that means trouble. But why he needs my help with all of this is also still a big mystery to me.

Half an hour later I find myself in Sam Braun's office, he turns towards me smiling. How can he smile when he has a disaster at hand is beyond me. The smile falters a bit when he takes a good look at my distressed face. He motions for me to take a seat but I tell him 'I'd rather stand.'

'Fine by me. What's with the serious face?'

'Sam cut the crap, you're the one who left a message on my machine telling me in was urgent.'

'Right down to business, you probably figured out it had something to do with Catherine and the casino…' I nod 'Well the thing is, you know I did things in the past I'm not too proud off and I'm afraid that some of those things are going to be discovered sooner or later.'

'Sam since the fact that we are business partners is common knowledge here in Vegas it's best you don't tell me about your past.'

'Sara, what kind of idiot do you take me for? Of course I know better than to tell you anything. I just wanted to ask you if you considered my offer.'

'I don't know, I'm flattered but I don't know if I'm up to it. I don't want to lose my club and running a casino is a fulltime job so I won't have enough time.'

'So the fact that my bad name could ruin your reputation doesn't worry you?'

'No offence but I believe most people know your legacy and in the minds of some people you did probably a lot worse things than you actually have done.'

'No offence taken.'

I cut him off before he has the chance to continue 'But if I would accept your offer, I could be the owner and look for someone who can play _vice-president_, what do you think?'

'Excellent idea. In that case you could still run your club and I would have a great successor.' He smiles at me, I have calmed down considerately and take a seat. He offers me a drink and I accept it. We talk business for some time until I remember his message involved Catherine.

'Why did you want to talk to me about Catherine?'

'Ah right. If there happens to be an investigation against me, could you make sure Catherine stays out of it. I don't want her to jeopardize her job because of me and I know she won't listen to me...'

I laugh halfheartedly 'And what makes you think she'll listen to me? I hardly know her and you made it pretty clear I had to stay away from her.'

'That's not entirely what I told you. But I know you'll find a way to make her listen to you, I saw how hooked she was to your conversation at the party. Otherwise involve Grissom and make sure he does everything in his power to keep her away from my case.'

'I'll do the best I can. Why are you so concerned anyway.'

'Like you said the least you know the better. But if you insist, I received some threats from an old friend of mine. He wants to come clean, but what he mostly wants is to see me hanging.'

'I see.' I know better than to ask for details, I don't really want to know either. We talk some more for a brief moment before I leave.

Back at my place I decide to stay home tonight and not go to work. I have a lot on my mind and truth be told I'm exhausted, mentally and physically. I grab my phone and call Lucy telling her she's in charge tonight. She is immediately worried about me, because it's the first time I asked her to do this. After some time I'm able to convince her I'm fine when she finally believes me, I hang up. I walk into my bedroom, change and crawl into my bed falling asleep only seconds after my head hits the pillow.

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_**Thanks for reading! Don't worry she'll meet Catherine soon again, but it's not because she met her at Sam's party she's already head over heels. In this story Sara Sidle is not one for lusting after one person :-)... **_


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: _Thanks guys for all the reviews. Constructive reviews are the best, they are really helpful. Enjoy the next chap!  
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_Catherine's POV_

It's the first of my two nights off and I'm really looking forward to spending time with my wonderful teenage daughter, is it wrong to use sarcasm when talking about my daughter? Don't get me wrong I love her but since last week there wasn't a single moment without arguing and bickering. She is in a really bad mood if I only knew why, but as usual she isn't talking to me.

I already cleaned my entire house and did all the groceries, I thought about cooking but I decided to take my daughter out tonight and do something nice with her. I really wish we could stop arguing and just talk like adults. I really hope she gives me a chance… well time to find out, I'm sitting on the couch when I hear my front door opening. It's Lindsey she went to the mall with some friends but she had to be back for dinner.

'Mom?' she calls worriedly.

'Here sweetie.'

'Oh, there you are I was worried… Why don't I smell any food?' she asks while crossing her arms in front of her chest.

'Drop the attitude Linds, it doesn't suit you. I thought it would be nice to go out for dinner.' she looks at me suspiciously for a second but a smile slowly starts to form, so I guess she thinks it's a good idea.

'Good thinking, mom. Can I decide where?'

Because I'm thrilled about the fact that we are having a civil conversation for more than three minutes already, I tell her she can pick any place she wants. She's runs up to her room to put her bags away and storms back down. 'Come on, what are you waiting for? I'm really hungry!!' With that she opens the front door and practically jumps in the car. I quickly grab my purse and keys and head after her.

After an enjoyable drive we arrive at a place that's new to me and I don't know how Lindsey knows about this place, maybe I'll ask her later. She's really excited about it, she didn't stop talking about it in the car. According to Lindsey they have a large choice and the prices are low. They also have an entire vegetarian and vegan menu it seems, and because Lindsey is an aspiring vegetarian at the moment I think I know why she chose this place.

We walk in and it's peaceful, which I'm glad for I don't really like those busy places. I glance quickly round the place and only see two other couples sitting in a secluded booth, enjoying a romantic dinner I assume and a woman eating all by herself in another booth. Somehow this woman looks familiar to me, but I can't figure out where we've met. Lindsey chooses a booth across from this woman, which gives me the opportunity to have a closer look at her.

We sit down and study the menus, Lindsey knows pretty quickly what she wants it takes me a little longer until I settle on the homemade lasagna. While waiting to order Lindsey tells me everything, at least everything she wants me to know, about her day at the mall. It seems one of her friends is dating a guy but she just found out she likes his best friend better. Teenage drama… as I'm listening to my daughter I can't help but have a better look at the familiar looking woman.

She's wearing a white shirt with red and pink stripes and a dark jeans, her hair is dark, she has a ponytail but some locks are loosely hanging out draping her face. She's eating while reading a book. Even though I don't see her face entirely I can tell she's gorgeous, at least her profile is. I'm mesmerized by this unknown woman until Lindsey coughs, which snaps me out of my trance successfully. I look at her and see she's not too happy with my lack of interest in the conversation.

I start to apologize but she cuts me off 'I don't get it, this was clearly one of your attempts to get me talking to you and all you do is stare off to something or someone not sitting at this table!' her voice gets louder with every word. I open my mouth to say something, actually to scold her for making a scene but she continues 'I'm sorry if I bore the hell out of you, but at least have the courtesy to tell me instead of just ignoring me.'

'Linds, I'm sorry. You don't bore the hell out of me, you know that. It's just…' I trail off as I look behind her again at the still eating and reading woman, she follows my gaze and turns her head. 'Now that you see her, I thought I knew her from somewhere but…'

'Mom, don't think… You do know that woman!' the excitement is evident in her voice. 'That's Sara Sidle, the one and only!'

'Are you sure?' Lindsey gives me the duh face, an expression she has perfected during the years.

'Mom, I so forgive you for not paying attention to my lame story if I would sit where you're sitting I wouldn't pay attention to me neither.' Now she's smirking at me, which is strange in some way. 'You should totally go over there and talk to her.'

'No, I shouldn't. Linds, I … I don't know her that well. We've only spoken that one time at Sam's party. And besides I'm spending quality time with my daughter.'

'Chicken.' And then she starts to imitate an actual chicken.

'Stop that!' I tell her while blushing vehemently. Okay so spending quality time with my daughter was a lame excuse and she saw right through that, but still… that doesn't give her the right to mock me. Certainly not making a scene in a restaurant, what if other people start to notice this… I quickly look at the others but no one seems to pay attention to us, I sigh deeply.

I glance back at the space that was previously occupied by one Sara Sidle but note she's gone. Which I'm glad for because now Lindsey can stop pestering me about going up to her to talk. I don't know what's stopping me, but somehow I'm feeling a little self-conscious at the moment. I haven't forgotten our previous encounter, in fact she has been the subject of some very exotic dreams.

'Mom, could you excuse me for a sec. I need to go to the restroom.' She puts her napkin on the table and heads for the toilets leaving me alone with my thoughts.

It has been a while since Lindsey left, I glance at my watch and see it has been ten minutes already, I'm starting to worry. I turn into the direction of the restroom but can't see her, she's also not at the bar at least not at the side I can see because I only have a partial view. Just when I'm about to get up and check up on her, she rounds the corner and walks back towards our booth. She sits down and looks at me smiling widely.

'Where have you been, I was worried.'

'Mom, I just went to the restroom for a couple of minutes.'

'Over ten minutes, Linds. I thought something had happened.'

'Mom, you're exaggerating. I was only gone for 5.' I know I'm not exaggerating but I don't want to have an argument over something as futile as this, I'm just glad she's back. 'You know you're a bit overprotective, right?' again she smirks at me.

I roll my eyes and tell her to continue her story, she wants to turn the conversation to Sara but I don't give her the chance, after a while she gives in and tells me about her life. I'm having a great time, my daughter is a very bright girl but I already knew that. She's a lot more mature than her friends or at least that's the impression she gives me, but she likes them. The lasagna was actually very good and Lindsey told me her plate was delicious.

'You want dessert?' I ask her.

'I don't know, let me have a look at the menu first.' I hand her a menu and take one for myself too.

'Did anyone say dessert?' the voice almost gives me a heart attack, I know all to well who that voice belongs too. I look up at the amused face of Sara.

'Hi Sara, I didn't know you were here.' I lie.

'Right.' She says smirking, clearly not believing me. I glance at Lindsey but she's hiding behind her menu so I can't make out her face.

'Sara meet my daughter Lindsey. Lindsey this is Sara Sidle, but since you totally admire this woman I believe you already know that.'

'Hi again Lindsey.' I hear Sara say, at first I'm a bit confused until I put one and one together and realize my daughter never went to the restroom. When I look at her, she's blushing and feeling rather awkward.

She mouths 'sorry' in my direction before saying 'Hi again Sara. Would you like to join us?'

Oh no, she did not just do that! I look up at Sara again hoping she has somewhere to go. 'I don't know, I don't want to intrude.'

'You won't. I'm sure my mom is fine with it, aren't you mom?' If I say I mind, I will disappoint them both at the same time and I hate to disappoint people, especially my lovely daughter who is so dead when we get home!

'No, absolutely not.'

Sara's smile grows wider and she opts for sitting next to me 'Okay then, may I suggest something, I know for a fact that it's very delicious.'

I only nod at her, the close proximity is doing strange things to my body. She leans even closer to look at the menu and I know she's teasing me, she could just as well have asked for it and I know she knows by heart how this dish is called. Lindsey who's watching us closely is really enjoying my discomfort, but when she sees my gaze she diverts her eyes and appears to be engrossed in the menu.

Sara's finger is going over the menu searching a dish. I can't help but admire her lanky fingers and perfectly shaped hands. They look so soft, I wonder how they would feel… Okay gotta stop thinking like that. 'So Sara, do you often eat here?'

'Depends, it has been a while I have to admit, but I like it here. The food is great and it's always peaceful in here at this hour.' She smiles at me and I'm about to melt on the spot. I'm staring intently, stuck in the depths of her chocolate brown eyes.

'Sara, I heard a lot of wild things about your club and I wanted to visit it but my mom keeps telling me I'm too young.' Lindsey clearly had enough of our staring fest and felt the need to ruin the moment.

Sara turns her gaze to Lindsey 'Well, she's right. Although I wouldn't mind giving you a tour one day when it's not open yet.' For a brief moment I saw disappointment in my daughter's eyes until Sara's words register, her face brightens instantly.

'Cool, I'd love that.'

'Great, it's a deal then. If your mother is okay with it that is.' They both look expectantly at me.

I roll my eyes at them both, this is not fair I'm being ambushed! 'Sure.'

'Wow, mom you're the greatest!' honesty obvious in her tone. Sara orders our desserts and when the waitress is gone, Lindsey asks 'Why did you call the place Shakespeare? Not that I mind it's a great name and the man was a great playwright.'

'Well that's a long story, but seeing we have some time to kill while waiting for our dessert, I'll tell you.' Sara tells us how she discovered the work of Shakespeare at a rather young age according to me and how she could quote several plays to the letter. She was totally captivated by his work and spent almost all her allowance on his books. Until she was old enough to go to the library all by herself, her parents weren't interested in that kind of things apparently. When she was in college she kept Macbeth in her nightstand, it was a bit of a safety blanket for her from when she was younger. But fascination for the man wasn't her only motivation, she met a girl in college who was evenly fascinated with Shakespeare and when they got to know each other better, they started dating. That girl became Sara's first girlfriend, she introduced Sara to a life outside of books and school and took her to a lot of clubs. 'So that's why I named my club Shakespeare, because if she hadn't taken me out and showed me another way of enjoying myself I wouldn't have set foot in a single club or bar my entire life.'

While she was telling the story, I saw a lot of emotions run through her eyes some good some bad and I believe she left a whole chunk of information out, whether because of Lindsey or because she's uncomfortable sharing them with people I don't know. We have finished our desserts and Sara and I are drinking some coffee. Lindsey is still asking Sara a lot of questions, mainly about her being gay and when and how she discovered it. Sara answers all her questions, she looks so relaxed and it's nice to see her outside her club or some party. She isn't that different although her tough attitude isn't there, however she still gets a lot of female attention. I'm sure she's going to end up with the waitress's number before we head out of here, but she's not the _player_ she is in her club.

Lindsey is totally in awe with this woman and they share an interest in science so it seems, I envy Sara's ability to talk with my daughter like she does. I learned a lot more about Lindsey during their conversation then I did trying to talk to her at home or even here. She's more carefree when talking to Sara, although I'm also a participant in the conversation. The evening turned out a lot better than I was expecting. 'Sara, we were going to watch a movie at home, care to join us?'

Sara is visibly contemplating my question 'I would love to but … I …'

'Please Sara, it's just a movie and I like you. So please?' Lindsey is begging her, even pouting slightly. One look at that face and she won't be able to say no.

Although Sara is still unsure whether this is a good idea, she says 'Okay, a movie will do me good it's been awhile.

* * *

Sara and I are sitting on the couch and Lindsey is lying in front of the couch on some pillows that's her new favorite position lately. The movie has come to an end and the credits are rolling over the screen. Lindsey made us watch one of the better movies she owns, which I'm grateful for. This one actually had a real storyline in it. She stands up and takes the DVD out and puts it away, then she kisses me on top of my head and hugs Sara.

Which was really funny, especially Sara's face she looks so cute when she's flustered. And Lindsey's hug clearly took her by surprise. 'Goodnight both of you, I'm going to my room now. I really need sleep.' She walks towards the stairs and I swear she just winked at me. I'm so going to have a conversation with her in the morning.

Both Sara and I tell her goodnight and she disappears. I look at Sara and we both feel a bit awkward now we're on our own. We both start to say something at the same time.

'Do you want wine or something else?'

'I should probably go.'

We look at each other and laugh. I want to tell Sara if she wants to go than that's fine by me, but before I have the chance she says 'Wine sounds great.' I walk silently into the kitchen and come back holding two glasses, I hand one to Sara and sit back down. We start to talk about a lot of things, at first mostly about Lindsey then a realization hits me.

'How come you aren't working tonight?'

She smiles as if she was expecting that question for some time now 'Because I didn't feel like it. I really needed the night off and I'm really glad I did. If I knew you visited that diner I would have taken the night off earlier.' Is she flirting with me?

'Actually it was the first time, Lindsey recommended the place I don't know where she knows it from but I'm also glad we went there.' Am I flirting back?

I put my hand on her thigh which makes her jump a little, weird I hadn't pegged her for being shy from the slightest touch. 'You are a very interesting woman and I have to admit, I envy you.'

She relaxes under my touch and replies 'Envy me? Why?'

'The way you get my daughter to talk, I wish I could do that. You see, we haven't been talking for a while now. That's the reason I took her out, hoping we could have a civil conversation. We did but it was all superficial until you joined us.'

She just smiles at me not knowing what to say. She changes the subject and we talk for two more hours enjoying half a bottle of wine. Near the end I'm definite there was some flirting, but it was light. The feeling I have known her my entire life resurfaces and I guess she feels the same way, because she tells me a lot about herself. Though she told me she doesn't trust easily and she normally doesn't tell private stuff.

I try to stifle a yawn, feeling tired all of a sudden but I don't want Sara to notice this, I'm enjoying her company far too much to see her go already. However it did not go unnoticed by Sara. 'You look tired, maybe I better go and try to get some sleep myself.'

We both stand up and I walk her to my door, again the awkward atmosphere returns as if we don't know how to proceed. She turns to face me after I opened the door for her. 'It was really nice, Catherine. Thanks for the great evening.'

'Don't thank me, thank Lindsey next time you see her.' we look at each other and we both feel pretty nervous. No nervous doesn't really cover it on my part, I have a feeling that's hard to describe I have the urge to kiss her deeply and I don't want her to go while another part of me knows this is just pure physical lust. She also looks hesitant on how to proceed and how to say goodbye after a perfect evening. We lock eyes and lose ourselves for a moment, I unconsciously lean forward and she does too. At the last moment I turn my face a little, or did she, so we give each other a peck on the cheek instead.

'Goodnight, we must do this again.'

'Goodnight Sara. We sure will.'

* * *

_**Thanks for reading! Now review and tell me if you still like it...**_


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: _It never ceases to amaze me how many great reviews I get :-) and like I said as an addict I simply love it but I'm also a bit greedy and I want more... This is Sara's take on the events from last chapter, ENJOY!_**

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_Sara's POV_

I'm sitting in one of my favorite diners way off the Strip I like the place so much because it's always peaceful here and although I'm still recognized normally they leave me alone. Also it's one of the best places for vegetarians, they really serve delicious dishes here. Instead of some small plate of vegetables. I'm enjoying my night off in peace, not a worry on my mind. It's sitting here I realize I should have done this way earlier. When my plate is empty, I decide to sit at the bar for a moment.

I order a drink when suddenly a young blonde sits next to me, she looks at me and I know she recognized me. I really hope she won't come on to me because I believe she's only sixteen. She remains silent though until I turn my attention to her, I look at her and she reminds me of someone, but I can't put my finger on who.

'Hi, you don't mind me sitting here, do you?' she asks in a sweet voice, but I know she's here with a purpose.

'Hi, no not at all.'

'So do you come here often?'

'Not really, I normally work at this time of day.'

'Oh I know.' She says 'You're the owner of one of the best clubs in town, if not the best!'

'So you clearly know who I am, care to tell me who you are?' I ask her nonchalantly.

'I'm Lindsey.'

'So Lindsey, care to tell why you came here? Because I know this is not just a coincidence. You see I don't really believe in coincidences.'

She crosses her arms over her chest and raises an eyebrow at me, her attitude reminds me even more of someone, but who… 'You're very straightforward, I like that. So it's only fair to tell you it's indeed not a coincidence I'm here.'

I try to suppress a smile, because with this attitude I have to be careful not to set her off. I merely nod and she continues 'You see, I'm here with my mother and I was telling her some stories about my friends but she wasn't paying attention to me. You know why?'

Although it's a rhetorical question, she waits for an answer 'No, I don't.' But I have a good guess what's coming next.

'Well, there is this certain someone in here that got all her attention…'

'And who might this person be.' I feign ignorance.

'Don't pretend you don't know that, because I'm sitting right next to her at the moment.' She pauses 'And because you took away my mother's attention, it's only fair you say hello to her.'

Hard to defy such logic, but I'm not really in the mood for company tonight. She must have picked up on the hesitation in my features because she says 'Sara, my mom isn't a woman that's easily distracted by someone, certainly not when she's spending quality time with _me_. That can only mean one thing, she thinks you're special.'

'I…erm…' I don't really know what to say, I open and close my mouth a couple of times but somehow the ability to form a coherent sentence lacks me.

'Look maybe it helps if I tell you my last name, I'm Lindsey Willows. I'm sure you have met a woman that also goes by that name.'

Indeed the name sounds pretty familiar and when I have a better look at Lindsey, I see the resemblance and it hits me who she reminds me off, Catherine Willows. 'You're right that helps a lot. Wow, you look quite a lot like your mother.'

'So I'm told, but I'm not here to talk about me.' I can't help but smile, this girls is definitely her mother's daughter. 'I shouldn't probably tell you this, but I know she likes you. I'm not saying she's in love or anything but it would be great if she could have a friend like you. I don't know why yet but you strike me as a trustworthy person and you make her happy in one way or another.'

'I'm flattered. I like your mom too, she's a great person and apparently she did a terrific job raising a beautiful, smart daughter.' I tell her honestly.

'So are you coming over to our table to say hi, that's all I'm asking. She's had a rough time at work and it would be really nice if she had an adult to share with.'

'I would love to say hi, come let's go.'

'No!' she says rather forcefully 'I mean, I don't want her to know I talked to you, she thinks I'm in the restroom. And I should probably head back, because it's been a good ten minutes and I know she is starting to get worried.'

With that she stands up and starts to walk away, she turns back 'Thanks Sara.' I don't go after her immediately, that would be too obvious. Catherine Willows was the last person I expected to run into tonight, but somehow I'm excited about it. Who in their right mind wouldn't want to talk to a woman like her, she's interesting, intelligent, beautiful and clearly a loving mother. I empty my drink and walk into the direction I saw Lindsey go a couple minutes ago.

I round the corner and immediately spot both the Willows women, a smile appears on my face the moment I lay eyes on Catherine. I walk up to their booth and hear her say something about dessert, I take this as my cue to announce my presence.

'Did anyone say dessert?' she recognizes me by my voice and she jumps slightly not expecting me to show up. But it's a nice surprise I can tell by the look in her eyes.

'Hi Sara, I didn't know you were here.' She lies, because her lovely daughter told me she was ogling me without my knowledge, however I let it slide maybe not entirely...

'Right.' I deliberately drag the word out while smirking. She looks at Lindsey suspecting she has something to do with this, however she's effectively hiding her face behind the menu. Catherine turns back to me and introduces her daughter to me.

When I greet Lindsey she knows something is up, Cath quickly figures out I already met her, Lindsey apologizes silently to her mother and offers me to join them. Catherine looks at me not sure she wants this, I can't really make out what the problem is so I ask her if I'm not intruding and I really hope she says I'm not.

Lindsey helps me a bit leaving Catherine no other choice than to comply. I make a mental note to thank Lindsey for this later on. Smiling widely I sit down, close to Catherine getting a bit back at her for lying to me. We even have a moment, damn this woman has captivating eyes. And the fact I know she wants me, isn't helping the matter. I have to keep reminding myself of Sam Braun's words over and over again.

Lindsey starts to ask me a lot of questions about the club and we arrange a visit for her when it's still closed, Catherine had to comply again and I can't help but feel pity for her. She's being outsmarted by her own daughter a lot tonight. After I told Lindsey why I named the club Shakespeare, she asks me another question 'Tell me how and when you discovered you were gay?'

This girl is very direct, I guess that's also one of the things she inherited from her mother 'Let's see, that's a hard question because in a way I've always known.' I have to think hard about the first moment I realized women were more interesting to me than men. 'Erm… I was fairly young, only eleven years old I guess. I had this really nice next-door friend, her name was Katie. When they just moved there, she came over to play with dolls but I wasn't interested in dolls. I wasn't really interested in any kind of children's toys, maybe because I didn't have a lot of them or maybe because I occupied myself with other things, I don't really remember.' I do actually, but that's one of the things I can't tell a teenage girl even if I were prepared to do it. Let's say my parents weren't the most caring type, I never understood why they even had children, they didn't even care to buy us toys. 'Anyway, Katie came over and introduced herself and her doll. She had long blonde hair and brown-green eyes, she was quite beautiful. She told me she was also eleven years old and introduced me to her doll, Mike. I told her it was stupid to name an object that doesn't live, of course this offended her and she told me I was stupid for not liking dolls and then she went away.' I smile remembering the look of utter shock on her face.

'The next day she came back when I was building something in my backyard, I had bought a book about swing sets and I was trying to build my own with discarded wood that was spread around the perimeter of my house. She was interested about what I was doing and she wanted to help me. So we build an entire swing set together, only problem was we weren't strong enough to put it in the ground. Which was a pity, I asked my parents but they were always too busy. So she told her older brothers and they helped us.' Our desserts have arrived and I watch Catherine when she tastes it. I can tell she's marveling the delicious taste and I'm pleased with myself.

'It's really fantastic.' She tells me smiling.

'I know.' I take a bite myself.

'Go on, Sara what happened next.' Lindsey is also rather impatient.

'Right, from that day on she visited me daily and we spent a lot of time on the swings and building other things, mostly we invented them ourselves. I liked her a lot, she was always friendly and nice but also rather stubborn and occasionally we fought, I was a couple of inches shorter than she was but I was a lot stronger so I won most of the time, but then she was sad and it broke my heart to see her like that. So I let her win the next time, she was so glad she kissed me. I know now it was innocent but her kiss kept me awake for 2 nights. I started to miss her from the moment she went home and I almost couldn't wait till I saw her the next day. I also spent a lot of time at her place, then we had sleepovers and stuff like that. She told me she loved me, also in a childlike way but it made me the happiest I had felt in my entire life.'

'I thought we would always be together but then she had to move, her father got a job in another state and they were moving there. I cried for days, I didn't sleep nor eat. I guess that's the first time I realized I liked girls. Because I have never felt that way about boys, not then neither when I was in college. Of course I tried to date them, but it wasn't the same than dating girls.'

'Oh, Sara that's so sad.' I smile at Lindsey to reassure her it's okay now. We talk some more about a lot of different things, Catherine also tells some embarrassing stories about baby Lindsey which I find rather cute.

We are all having a great time, then Catherine asks me 'Sara, we were going to watch a movie at home, care to join us?' I'm not sure if I'm ready for this, I hardly know them and she invites me to her house. I get a panicky feeling and I'm not sure why, maybe because I'm not used to these kind of things. Although it would be nice to join them, damn this is hard!

'I would love to but … I …' I start however I should have waited until I actually came up with a plausible excuse before starting to speak.

'Please Sara, it's just a movie and I like you. So please?' Lindsey begs, she's even pouting. It's adorable and I'm so not able to say no now…

'Okay, a movie will do me good it's been a while.' I tell her although I'm not entirely convinced this is such a good idea..

* * *

We enter the Willows' residence and I note it's a nice place. Catherine did a lot of effort to put in a personal touch and she succeeded. Everywhere are photos of her and Lindsey and also of her coworkers. The place is rather big for only two people, which means more work cleaning the place but I think she needs that to unwind after a difficult shift. We walk over to the couch and sit down. Lindsey brings us coke and crisps and puts in a DVD.

She puts some pillows on the ground and makes herself comfortable there, leaving me and Catherine alone on the couch. This makes me feel a little awkward, should I sit close to her or not? Maybe it's better if I stay on this side of the couch, otherwise she could get the wrong impression. Damn why am I not used to this friendship things?! I know so many people, but I don't do this. With my job it's hard to make time for other things… that's a pretty lame excuse, normally I just don't make time for them.

I admit I'm a workaholic but I don't mind that one bit, I love my work. I love being busy, since I was a child I always loved to do many things at the same time. Being adult that hasn't really changed I guess. My overactive mind needs to be fed with a lot of things, I can't help it. I have been sitting here so lost in my own thoughts that I didn't notice the movie already started and I missed the entire beginning. I watch Catherine out of the corner of my eye, she's bringing her legs up shifting in a more comfortable position, the movie seems to be interesting so I decide to watch it.

When the credits roll over the screen, Lindsey gets up and takes the DVD out. She silently walks back towards us and kisses Catherine on top of her head then she turns to me. She's contemplating something and just when I'm about to tell her goodnight she wraps her arms around me and pulls me in a bear-hug. Okay clearly not what I was expecting and she caught me off guard. I only know her for a couple of hours and already she feels comfortable enough to invade my personal space.

Catherine takes pleasure in the look, which can only be perplexed, that graces my features. Lindsey releases me and says goodnight and disappears up the stairs. I turn to Catherine while she does the same and we stare at each other both unsure of what to say or do. I look at her eyes and I know she's unsure too but they are darkening a bit just by looking at me, it's best if I just leave now. Sam Braun won't be too happy if I have sex with his daughter.

'I should probably go.'

At the same time Catherine says 'Do you want wine or something else?'

We smile at each other, I don't want to go. I'm having a great time and I want to be here, maybe Catherine can help me with this friendship thing. She wants to say something but I don't give her a chance 'Wine sounds great.' She's genuinely pleased I decide to stay and heads into the kitchen only to emerge from it moments later holding two glasses and a bottle of wine, she hands me one and sits back down.

I sip from my glass, this wine is really good and I guess rather expensive too. Well when a woman takes out her best bottle of wine, that means she certainly likes me, it relaxes me a lot. 'You have an amazing daughter, you did a wonderful job raising her.'

She smiles proudly, blushing a bit by my compliment 'Thanks, she's great.'

'She told me you had had a rough time at work, everything okay with you?' I ask her truly concerned. Catherine is confused when I bring this up, but also pleased. She tells me about a couple of hard cases she had to work and how they got to her more than normal. It helped talking about it and she thanks me.

She asks me why I'm not working and I tell her almost the entire story, I want to tell her about Sam but decide against it. We also share some childhood stories and I can't remember the last time I felt this relaxed with a person. Maybe Lindsey was right, we could both use a good friend. I want to know how much of a friend Catherine can be, so I tell her a couple of less pleasant stories about my childhood and the time I was in college. She reacts just like I want her too, she doesn't pity me but I see understanding in her eyes. In turn she tells me about her life as an exotic dancer and coke-addict.

I have the feeling we have known each other for years, like she's a long lost friend. And it also seems to click with me and Lindsey so that won't be a problem too. Catherine tries to stifle a yawn, unsuccessfully because I noticed 'You look tired, maybe I better go and try to get some sleep myself.' I'm actually also feeling a bit tired myself.

She walks me to her door and opens it, I step outside and turn back to her. Unsure how I should best say goodbye, should I kiss her on the cheek or hug her or just say goodbye? She's having a similar dilemma I assume, because we're just standing here not saying nor doing anything. One of us should start speaking soon or we will only become more awkward 'It was really nice, Catherine. Thanks for the great evening.'

'Don't thank me, thank Lindsey next time you see her.' she wants to do this again some other time, her statement makes me happy.

We're looking at each other intensely, I'm really not good at this part never have been. Why didn't anyone teach me how to say a proper goodbye? The more I look at her the more I want to kiss her and … But I can't, then there wouldn't be a chance of us becoming friends. She would only become one of my conquests and I don't want that, somehow she doesn't deserve this either. She leans forward, bringing her lips closer to mine, her body must have a magnetic power because I feel myself lean closer to her too. My head is screaming at me but I don't seem to hear it, right before our lips touch I have in some way the power to turn my face a bit, she did the same simultaneously resulting in us just giving each other a peck on the cheek.

'Goodnight, we must do this again.'

'Goodnight Sara. We sure will.'

* * *

Sitting in my car I'm thinking back at how perfect my evening was, I had hoped in some way to spend it all by myself. But then I encountered Catherine and I can't say I mind, not at all. We spent the night at her house and it was just perfect. I don't know what she feels for me exactly, I only know she's physical attracted to me. She told me so much at Sam's party and I would have taken her up on her offer. I'm glad Sam talked some sense into me, because since my main goal couldn't be accomplished I was interested in her in another way.

It's the first time I spent the night at a woman's house just talking and watching a movie when I'm attracted to her. This is all new to me, of course I have friends and people I can talk to but not in the way I'm able to talk to Catherine. I'm relaxed to tell her things I didn't even tell my closest friends. Which is also an entirely new experience for me, somehow I can't figure out why she makes me feel this comfortable. A long time ago I decided not to do relationships anymore, I like my life the way it is and I don't really need anybody to be complete. I am pretty complete on my own, relationships hurt me too much. They also ask a lot of energy, energy I don't always want to put in them.

It also means sharing and nobody taught me how to share, I have absolutely no problems with sharing money or other materialistic things but I'm terrible in sharing my emotions and thoughts. Sometimes I want to be all by myself, I can fully enjoy the silence and solitude and I really need that, I crave to have my own space. This however is one of things that don't mix well with relationships, my partners didn't understand this need. They started to blame themselves for it. No matter how hard I tried to explain it had nothing to do with them, they wouldn't believe me. The more they doubted themselves the more isolated I became.

I don't really get it why only date one person, after a while it loses its beauty. Then the fighting and arguing start, because there comes a time where you and your partner have different views of the future. Most of my partners were happy to be completely devoted to me and spend as much time with me as possible, I don't get that. Why would anyone want to be devoted to one person only… In my future I see freedom, I want to be as free as possible. There has been a time when people told me what to do and controlled every aspect of my life, I've had it with being controlled. I've had it with people telling me what to do, I've had it with always having to consider someone's thoughts and feelings. I just want to be free!

I hope with all my heart and soul that Catherine isn't one of those people, that she respects me for who I am and respects my need for privacy and solitude from time to time. And I hope her attraction stays physical, maybe if this friendship works out, we can talk about having noncommittal sex if she's interested in that sort of thing. I bet she is, but maybe not with a good friend. But that are worries for later, first I have to become a good friend. Someone she can count on, someone who's there when she needs a shoulder to cry on, someone who supports her with everything she want to do, someone to give her good advice, someone…like me.

I realize I'm standing in front of my home, not knowing how on earth I got here. I was too lost in thought to pay attention to the traffic, damn I have to be more careful about where I decide to have this kind of trip down my mind. I turn off the engine and walk up to my place. I put my hands in my pockets to empty the contents, I come across an unfamiliar piece of paper I open it and it says: _Call me anytime you want, Catherine. _and her number is also jotted down. I put it on my fridge and go straight to bed.

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_**Thanks for reading! You know what I want now...**_


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: _I know it took me longer than usual, but I'm having lots and lots of work and I'm also having some health problems. So I hope you can forgive me... Enjoy!_**

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_Catherine's POV_

I'm standing at my kitchen counter, waiting for Lindsey. I called her half an hour ago, giving me enough time to prepare breakfast, knowing she needs a lot of time to get up. I hear noises upstairs and assume my daughter finally found the power to move her body. She stumbles down the stairs and plops down on her chair. Grabbing her orange juice and draining the glass in one gulp, then she sips from her tea and looks at me 'Morning mom.'

'Morning sweetheart.' I sit down next to her and sip from my coffee. 'Sleep well?'

'Very well actually and you?' she has this adorable amusing face, if she were awake enough she would probably be smirking again!

'Very well too. It's good that you had a very good rest because I want to talk to you about something.'

She raises an eyebrow, not really surprised about it 'Let me guess, you want to talk about Sara?'

I only nod and she rolls her eyes. 'Mom, if you want to know if it's okay you date her, I have to say it's more than okay for me. Heck if I were a couple of years older I would date her!' she says in an utmost excited tone 'Besides, she's funny, intelligent and sexy as hell!'

Okay my daughter really got to stop talking about her like this, it's weird. I never knew she had this fascination for any of my other … friends. 'Linds, we're not dating. We're just…uh…friends I guess. It's all very new.'

'You can't seriously expect me to believe that, I saw the way you two looked at each other, you were ready to r…'

'Linds! Don't you dare finish that sentence!' I tell her firmly.

'Sorry but it's true. Anyone could feel the tension between you two.' She eats her cereal and when her mouth is free again she continues 'How come you aren't dating her?'

'Because...' Yeah why Catherine? I don't know this, because something is holding Sara back or because I'm only physically attracted to her, but I can't tell my daughter this can I?

'Wow, now it's so clear to me. How very eloquent mom.' She says in an annoyed tone.

'Lose the tone, sweetie.' I give her a stern look and she drops the attitude 'I don't really know why we're not dating, we're just starting to get to know one another.'

'That hasn't stopped you before…' she is really starting to piss me off with her smartass comments.

'I know, but she's different. I don't want to just have sex with her and move on! I want her to be my friend!' see how annoyed I am, now I told her flat out why we are not dating.

Her jaw drops to the floor, we never had this kind of conversation before. 'I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pushed you.'

'No you shouldn't, but I'm glad I'm able to talk to you about these kind of things. I appreciate your maturity.' I smile at her and she returns it.

'You're serious about her, aren't you?'

'I wouldn't say that, but I could really use a friend like her. She understands so much about my job and you like her too. I can talk to her about almost anything and I believe she feels comfortable talking to me. it's always good to have an adult best friend too.'

'I figured, that's exactly what I told Sara. That you could do with a really good friend and she seemed genuinely interested in becoming a friend of yours.'

'How did you know… I mean you hadn't met her before.'

'Because I saw the way you looked at her and you can't stop talking about her, I had the feeling I had known her for quite some time now.' she states matter-of-factly. 'Too bad you two aren't interesting in dating. You would be a kickass couple and she would be a kickass stepmom.'

We enjoy the rest of our breakfast making jokes and talking about school and assignments. Lindsey is working on a new project for her science class with one of her best friends. They have arranged to meet today to work on it, for a moment I'm a bit sad, I had hoped to spend some more quality time with my daughter but schoolwork has priority. She takes a quick shower and then she's picked up by her friend's mother. She kisses me goodbye and heads out.

Apparently she had told me about this before, but I had forgotten it. Now I'm sitting here, having nothing to do because I did all of my work yesterday. I turn on the television and decide to watch it for a moment. I stretch out on my couch, just when I'm in a very comfortable position my phone rings. I curse the thing and silently pray it isn't Grissom to call me in for work.

'Willows.' I say in a tone making clear I'm not in the mood.

_'Hi, it's me. I…__Is this a bad time?'_ the voice on the other end asks hesitantly, my tone clearly had its effect.

'No, _you _can call me anytime.' I smile into the receiver, realizing the person on the other side can't see that.

_'Good, because I was thinking of spending the day with you and…'_ confidence has come back to my exquisite caller.

'You were? What did you have in mind?' I ask eagerly.

_'Truthfully not much yet. I just called you on impulse.' _I clearly make out amusement in her voice.

'Oh, in that case…' I say in mock disappointment.

_'Hey, give me some credit!'_ she says convincingly. _'I can think of something on the way over, sounds good?'_

'Sounds great! When are you here?'

_'In five maybe, I'm already on my way.'_

'Sara Sidle! You are unbelievable, I'm going to hang up now and change in record time then.'

_'Okay. Casual is just fine.__ See you soon.__'_ With that she hangs up an I rush into my bedroom pulling out a lot of clothes, choosing hurriedly for the right outfit, I settle on a jeans and a nice top and quickly change. I walk into my bathroom and make sure my hair is presentable. I manage all of this just in time, because when I step out of my bathroom my doorbell rings.

I almost jump downstairs and open my door completely out of breath. She takes in my appearance for a second and starts to chuckle a bit. I throw her a death glare and she holds up her hands in mock surrender. She gives me a beautiful gap-toothed smile, I already noticed the gap between her teeth but when she's smiling like that, only one thought runs through my mind: ADORABLE!

'Hi, you look nice.' She says checking me out a bit more for good measurement.

'Hi yourself, so do you.' I take in her appearance for a moment longer 'So did you get the chance to come up with something?'

'I did. Isn't Lindsey here?' I shake my head 'Too bad, she would have loved it.'

'What?'

'Oh no, can't tell you that because then I would have to kill you.' She winks at me and takes out a blindfold.

'You're not serious are you?' I already know the answer but it doesn't keep me from hoping she's only joking.

'Of course not, I brought this along just for fun.' She says and I'm really relieved until her sarcasm reaches my ears. My smile falters and I reluctantly put on some shoes and walk to her car. She opens the door and I get in, when I'm buckled up she gracefully puts the blindfold on. Her fingers trace my face lightly giving me a feel of how soft they are. Somehow I had expected them to be a little bit rougher.

She closes the door and walks round the car, when she's buckled up too she starts the engine and our journey begins. We drive for a long time and we made some small talk during the drive. I try to figure out where we are going but she doesn't say anything about that. Back to small talk then. After what I guess was almost an hour long drive, she stops and turns off the engine.

'Have we arrived?'

'Yes.' Although I can't see her face, I know she's smiling.

'How long did we drive?'

'About an hour and a half.'

'That long!' I'm totally surprised, I know it was long but it didn't feel that long. I guess we have talked quite a lot. 'Where are we? Can I see now?'

'Nope, not yet.'

She steps outside and I hear my door opening, she takes my hand and helps me out of the car. She still holds my hand even after she closed the door and she starts to guide me, giving me instruction so I won't trip and hurt myself. I follow the instruction closely, maybe I should have told her that I don't really like to be surprised. She has all the control for the moment and I'm not that comfortable giving away my control.

We walk for a moment until she takes away the blindfold, I give my eyes time to adjust to the light of the bright afternoon sun. It's a hot day today. When they're adjusted to the light, I slowly open them and see where we are. Somewhere in the middle of the Nevada desert. There's not a living soul in the neighborhood, it's so peaceful out here. But I wonder why she brought me here. She's smiling at me 'What do you think of this place?'

'Although it's part of the desert, I don't think I've ever been here. It looks different, it's beautiful. But why did you bring me here?'

'I always come here when I need to think, I like to go hiking and this is one of the best places to do that. Do you feel the light breeze? It helps me to clear my head and I wanted to share this with you.' She says casually.

She takes my hand again and we start to walk further and further into the area until we reach a cliff, the view is breathtaking. I now understand why she likes this place. She motions for me to sit down and I obey silently. She sits down next to me and for a moment we take in the view. Normally when I visit the desert it's because there's a DB somewhere or someone went missing here. But this lets me experience the desert a bit differently, more pleasant.

'Impressive huh?'

'Yeah.' I don't know how to put what I'm experiencing into words.

'Don't you have a place where you go to unwind?' she asks me seriously.

'Not really no, normally I go to my sister to talk. Or I visit a club or bar until I'm fairly drunk.' I'm still watching the scene in front of me.

'That's where you and I are very different, when I'm having a hard time with something. I need to be alone and where can you be more alone than in the middle of nowhere?' it's a rhetorical question so I don't bother to answer it 'It's something most people don't really understand, they always tell me it's better to have someone to talk to when you have a problem. I'm not much of a talker and I hate being forced to talk about something. First I need time to deal with it on my own, after that if I still need it, I will talk to a friend.'

'I can see why you and Grissom are friends. You are very alike.' I look at her when saying this, I hope I didn't offend her with my statement. She smiles at me, glad that finally someone understands her. 'Where do you know him from?'

'He was a teacher at my college, he gave a seminar there and I was smitten.'

'With Grissom?' I give her a puzzled look, I thought she wasn't interested in men.

'Yes, no. Not in the way you assume, I was mesmerized by the person. He was and still is a real enigma and he has the power to draw all the attention to him because he's so passionate about his subjects. He might not be a people person but when he teaches a course, he knows exactly what he is doing and how he needs to talk in order to have the attention of everyone. He's very devoted about everything he does, but I suppose you already know that.' I only nod. 'I was a very interested almost obsessed student and I wanted to know everything he knew. So after class I spoke with him and we talked for so long, the janitor told us we had to leave the place because it was time to close. We made arrangements to meet each other the next day in a bar on college premises. Since that day we became friends because of our shared interests, he became my mentor and best friend.'

'You're mentor?'

She averts her eyes and thinks about her answer, in a way I doubt she's going to answer that one honestly. I don't want to make her lie so I quickly say 'I can see that. He probably helped you a lot during your studies and taught you a lot of new things. Well he's my best friend too, he's always there to support me and most important he's always honest with me, I know I quickly intimidate people which makes them say the things they think I want to hear, but not Grissom. I think no one can intimidate him.' I smile remembering the oblivious look on his face every single time I'm mad at him.

She is still reflecting whether or not she will tell me why Grissom was her mentor. I see it in her eyes, it's cute when she's like this. She's totally lost in thought I even doubt she heard a word I was saying. I believe she did because the troubled look has changed into a pleased one. Pleased I helped her not to lie. She changes the topic about the rest of my coworkers and my relationship with them, I tell her gladly all she wants to know. We're really good at this talking thing I like to be around her, she makes me feel relaxed maybe because she oozes calmness.

'Would you like to have dinner at my place tonight?' I ask her boldly and a bit unexpected.

'Sure, if it's not too much trouble.' she answers the question easily, as if she was expecting me to ask it. Maybe she saw it in my eyes or maybe she just hoped I was going to ask...

'Of course not.' I look at my watch and it seems we lost track of time again 'We should probably head back it's getting late and I have to be home in time for Lindsey.'

She nods her understanding and stands up then offers me a hand. I smile my gratitude and take her hand. She pulls me up and her other hand goes to my side to support my weight. We are standing rather close, I look at her and she just smiles when she makes sure I'm standing steadily she releases me slowly. Suddenly something that crossed my mind earlier resurfaces and I ask her 'How do you know where you left your car?'

'Easy, you're an investigator so you know how to follow the evidence.' She winks at me but I don't really get it.

'What evidence?'

'For being a great investigator you are really oblivious today, aren't you?' she smirks at my glare 'You have to notice a couple of odd things you come across when walking here, strange looking stones or plants, when there aren't any oddities you have to plant some evidence yourself.'

'You should definitely become a CSI I think you would make a great investigator with your observational skills and insights.'

She wrinkles her nose a bit and shakes her head 'Nah, thanks I love my job. I think I wouldn't be able to cope with all the things you see on a daily basis.'

We easily get back to the car and she drives us to my place pretty fast, somehow she managed to avoid heavy traffic.

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_**Thanks for reading!**_


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: _I know it's been a very long time since I updated and I'm terribly sorry. I had some health problems and major problems with my internet connection, meaning I couldn't get online or sometimes just for a couple of minutes... I hope this chap makes up for my lack of updates :-). ENJOY!_**

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**Six months later**

_Sara's POV_

'No I haven't forgotten anything, don't worry.' I sigh and roll my eyes 'Yes…yes that too. I told you I had everything. No, nothing wrong with it - I guess. I'm going to hang up now, kay? Bye Cath.' I close off my phone and put it away.

I pay for the groceries and put them in bags, I walk over to my car and put everything into the trunk. I start the engine and drive towards Catherine's. Normally she's the one buying groceries and asking me if I need anything, but today it's the other way around. I wanted to make myself a nice snack but found the cupboards almost completely empty. I decided to run an errand and give Catherine a call to see if she needed anything, apparently she did. She give me a whole list and kept calling me to make sure I didn't forget one single thing.

At first it was cute but after the fifth time it started to annoy me. Resulting in me speeding a bit at the moment, realizing it I calm myself down considerably and continue to drive at a lower speed. I really hope I didn't forget anything or I will have to deal with a pretty upset Catherine and that's something you want to avoid at any cost. Since we became friends I came across_ that_ person a couple of times, luckily she was only upset with me once and it's save to say I never want to experience that again.

I pull up in her driveway, take out the bags and walk to her door before I even have the chance to knock, the door flies open and Catherine takes one of the bags from me. She walks into her house again and I follow her. I put my bag on the kitchen counter and help Catherine unpacking everything and putting it where it belongs. I have been here so many times I exactly know what goes where. When we're done, she pulls me into a hug and thanks me.

'It was really nothing, Cath. You've done this so many times for me.' I smile at her.

'I know but it gave me the perfect excuse to hold a beautiful woman in my arms, who would want to pass up a chance like that.' She winks at me.

'Good thinking, can't I get another one because I didn't forget anything.' My smile transforms into a smirk.

'Why not.' She steps back to me and hugs me again. It definitely feels good to be held by Catherine, although the woman is rather petite she's quite strong. I always like strong arms wrapped around me. What's also really fantastic about Cath is her scent, damn she smells nice. She might have worked all day and night but still she smells so fine! I could get addicted to Catherine-scent, probably I already am.

'Where's Lindsey?'

'She's at a friend, they're having a sleepover.'

'Do you have plans before you have to go to work?'

'Why?' she asks warily.

'Do you want to go out for dinner?' I ask her hesitantly, I have this instant urge to take her out tonight. It's sort of thank you for all the things she has done for me and for being my friend.

'Are you asking me out on a date?' Hope evident in her voice.

'No.' I answer a bit too quickly, seeing the disappoint in her eyes I regret it. 'I mean, I didn't consider it a date but if you want we can call it …um… a date.'

A grin forms on her face 'Is it a date, yes or no?'

'Yes.' I don't want to disappoint her again certainly not when I'm trying to be thankful.

'Quick hand me my diary!' she says amused, I can only look at her bewildered why on earth does she need her diary? I didn't even know she had one!

'Why?' she starts to laugh with my utterly puzzled expression.

'Weren't you the one who told me she doesn't do dates?'

'Yeah, but I still don't see what your diary has to do with this.' A frown forms on my forehead.

'I need to be able to remember this for the rest of my life, so I can tell my grandchildren all about this.' She starts to laugh louder because I still don't get it entirely. She stops immediately when she notices this, she wraps her arms around me and kisses my cheek lightly 'Never mind, Sar. It was just a joke, I don't have a diary.'

'Oh.' Somehow I know I learned how to speak, but this ability must have disappeared temporarily. Probably because of that one small word 'date', Catherine is right I usually don't date. Actually I'm still not doing it, she's the one who suggested it not me. I just complied because I didn't want to let her down. Or is it because I don't really mind dating Catherine… See now I'm confused, no wonder I'm not able to speak.

We are really close, the people I work with asked me if I was seeing her. I told them we are not an item, but I saw the looks of disbelieve. Why is it so hard for people to understand that a lesbian can be really close to another female without wanting to be involved with her. I wouldn't mind sleeping with her, but I don't want to ruin what we have right now so we keep it strictly nonphysical. Unless the hugs and pecks count as physical, nah they don't.

It's amazing to have someone I can share everything with, talk with about almost anything, spend days with doing all kinds of stuff like shopping, walking, going to the movies, watching television, helping her daughter with projects or giving her advice … I never had someone like that since I moved to Vegas and it seems I could really use somebody to care for that also cares for me. I started to take better care of myself, eating and sleeping at regular basis and it shows, I'm feeling healthier. _Tell me... what's the difference between your relationship with Catherine and having a girlfriend? _Well, a lot. _Really, from what I'm seeing the only difference is you don't have sex with her._ No, there are other differences and since when do I have an inner voice talking to me. _Since now! _Great just what I need. _Well suck it up, because I'm here and I'm not going away until you realize you have been involved with Catherine for months. But I guess you're getting slow in your old days… _Yeah, why's that? Hey, I'm not old. _Why? Why? You really have to ask that? How long does it take you to sleep with your girlfriend nowadays?_ She's not my girlfriend! _Isn't she now? You share all your thoughts with her, you go grocery shopping with or for her, you almost spend every free minute at her place, you eat dinner together, you actually cook for her from time to time, you value her opinion, you have been playing house for months, do I need to go on?_ We…I … no… _Denial is such a virtue; honey when was the last time you had sex with someone? _Not that long ago, give me a minute. _Ha! See you can't even remember, that means it's been TOO LONG!_

Catherine places a hand on my arm, which seems to snap me out of whatever trance I was in. She has a very concerned look and she's also a lot paler than usual. I give her a small smile but it doesn't help, the concern is still there and her color is still gone. 'Sara, are you okay?' She touches my face and forehead very carefully with her other hand.

'I'm fine.' My voice seems to work at last.

'You don't look fine. You know we don't really have to call it a date, I was just messing with you. I'm so sorry.' She's rambling.

'Cath, it's okay. I don't mind dating you… I mean going on a date with you… damn, calling it a date.' looks like she's not the only one that's rambling at the moment.

The concern makes place for gratification when a smirk forms slowly but surely 'Did anyone tell you, you look cute when you're rambling like that?' I shake my head 'You do, very cute even.'

I feel my cheeks grow hot, this cannot be happening. Please, tell me I'm not blushing? _You are and you love it. _I step back a bit trying to compose myself, I need to keep control of the situation. I won't ruin what we have because of my overactive mind. I make up an excuse to leave to make arrangements for our 'date'. She knows something's up with me, because I only have to make a phone call if I want to eat anywhere in Vegas but she lets it slide. I tell her I'll pick her up at six, that should give us time enough to eat before we both need to go to work.

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I glance at my watch, I've been much longer at my club than I realized. Five hours to be exact! I'm really enjoying myself, we're having a special theme night. Every man has to be dressed like a lady and the women have to be dressed like men. It's really funny, especially the men. I was quite surprised by the amount of men that showed up tonight, some of them are professional drags but that doesn't matter.

I'm wearing a tux which makes me blend easier with the crowd. Our DJ is really great too, the songs are fantastic and danceable. My face is covered in lipstick because some guys love to goof around with lipstick, they're even having a competition. Each guy has his own color and they have to kiss as many women as they can, earning points. Also different body parts earn them more points. Like the stomach, that's good for 20 points. I guess they're fraternity boys, they always come up with lame games like this.

As long as everyone is enjoying themselves, you won't hear me complain. I'm standing behind the bar, serving drinks to various thirsty people. I'm covering for Tim, he's also dressed as a woman and he's doing an act on stage. I didn't expect him to do something like this but he's pretty good. The crowd loves him! When the swarm of thirsty people reduces to only 5, I ask Karen if she could handle it by herself for a moment. I haven't had time to check messages and do some paperwork, she tells me she'll call me the minute she can't handle it anymore and I leave her.

In my office it's peaceful, it wasn't until now that I realized I needed to cool off for a while. Not one single second since I arrived have I had the time to relax a bit and my body is telling me I need it. I grab the papers from my desk and lay down on my couch, going through them. When I've double-checked everything, I put the papers on the floor and close my eyes. My mind takes me back to my 'date' with Catherine earlier tonight, it was amazing. The food was delicious, the atmosphere was wonderful, the conversation light and playful, Catherine was breathtaking, …

I wish she was here, I miss her. Immediately I jump up from my couch, I guess I drank a bit too much… Or maybe it's because of the enjoyment I have been experiencing all night. Yeah, that's probably it. I should go back, Karen possibly needs me. When I enter the club again, I see a new swarm of thirsty people and right away I help Karen. She smiles gratefully at me. Apparently she didn't even have enough time to call me. When Tim's act is over, he returns to do his job giving me the opportunity to return to the dancefloor.

It's almost 8 AM and most people have left, I'm pleased by this. The dancing, drinking and singing has worn me out completely. A hot girl, that earlier was hitting on me, walks over to me again. She whispers dirty talk into my ear and I stand up ready to follow her wherever she wants to take me. She walks towards the exit and I want to follow her but my legs don't move an inch. I don't know how or why but suddenly I lose all interest in having sex this morning. This is a first… One minute I'm completely turned on and the next I'm not in the mood anymore. Luckily it happened here and not when we were already getting it on, I would have died from embarrassment. When she realizes I'm not following her, she turns back to me. I apologize sincerely telling her I'm exhausted, which is not a lie. Why am I so worried about this, that's what it has to be isn't it? I'm just too tired!

_Right!_

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_**Thanks for reading and although I've been absent for some time I still LOVE reviews...**_


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: _First of all I want to apologize for the lack of updates. Apparently my internet issues weren't completely solved and on top of that I was having a major writer's block. This chapter was written weeks ago but I wasn't completely satisfied with it so I wanted to change some things but I couldn't. To make it up I made this chapter slightly longer than my other chapters. So... ENJOY!_**

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_Catherine's POV_

'Lindsey! Are you ready? Sara is going to be here any minute now!' I scream at the bottom of the stairs, it's Saturday afternoon and Lindsey is going to the club with Sara. It's the third time Sara is taking her there. Apparently my daughter likes to help her out with stock ordering and other stuff that need to be done before the club is ready to open.

'Yeah, mom. I'm ready, I'll be there in a sec.' she shouts back from behind her bedroom door. I have no clue what she's doing there, but she said she had to get some stuff and she's been there for the last 20 minutes now.

'Okay!' I walk back to the kitchen and continue doing the dishes while humming alone with a great song on the radio. I almost break a plate when Lindsey puts a hand on my shoulder.

'See…done!' she smiles at me, but I'm too startled to return it.

'Geez, Linds. You nearly gave me a heart attack.'

'Sorry.' She says but it sounds far from apologetic, I believe it was her intention otherwise she would have made more noise on the stairs or coughed or something. 'Need some help?'

'No thanks, I'm almost done.' I finally smile at her, I have to say she changed a lot since Sara has become a friend. She's still moody from time to time but less and she has started to open up more to me, I can't deny I like this. It's like we're having a new start and so far it's going great.

She shrugs and takes a seat at the table, she has a questioning expression but remains silent. I watch her for a moment longer before I return to the dishes, with my back to her I say 'Spill it, what do you want to ask me?'

Although I can't make out her face, I know my question startled her she thought I didn't notice. When she refuses to give me an answer, I look at her and raise a knowing eyebrow. She composes herself 'Um…when was the last time you dated someone?'

Clearly not what I expected, I furrow my brow in a thinking gesture. Let's see… it's been a while indeed. Since I know Sara I haven't dated anyone and before that it's been some time too. She grins at me before saying 'That long, huh?'

'Since when do you complain about my lack of dating? I thought you liked it this way.'

'I'm not complaining, I'm merely stating a fact.' She replies smugly. She's thinking about something else before her grin grows wider and she adds 'Did you meet anyone lately that could be potential dating material?'

I know her question implies more than she's letting on, but I choose to play dumb. I don't want to give her the satisfaction of implying the wrong thing 'What do you mean exactly?'

'Well, isn't there someone – gorgeous, fantastic, intelligent, funny – you're interested in at the moment?' she starts to play with her hair acting innocent, too innocent.

'I don't know... Is there? Because you seem to know more than I do.' I reply smirking, the expression on her face is priceless. She's the one trying to play me, but I'm not a compliant participant. She narrows her eyes slightly, trying hard not to lose her cool.

'I could name one person that fits the picture and would be a great date for you.' She says very casually, she's not giving up as easily as I would have thought.

'And who is that person?' I ask still feigning ignorance.

'Who do you want it to be?' Damn, she's getting better at this game every passing minute. Sometimes I hate the attitude she inherited from… well… me.

She's watching me with a scrutinizing look, telling me she won't back down until she gets an honest answer. But even though I know all too well who she's referring to, I don't know for sure if she's completely right. The thing is, I really care for Sara and I really like her, hell what's not to like about her. She's just perfect! However Sara's totally oblivious to this. According to the woman herself she's not good at relationships, I'm certain she would make a wonderful partner. Nevertheless I'm not entirely convinced that I want us to be more than close friends.

The longer I wait to answer her question, the more impatient she becomes. When she puts one hand on her side and starts tapping her foot on the floor, I know I have to answer her before she loses her temper. I open my mouth but before I have the change to let any sound come out of it, we hear the doorbell. I close my eyes and sigh deeply, Lindsey rolls her eyes and heads for the door. 'Saved by the bell, but this isn't the end of our conversation.' She throws over her shoulder when she's halfway.

She opens the door and greets Sara with the biggest smile she can muster, Sara is also smiling and says hello back. When she takes a good look at Lindsey's expression, she becomes slightly suspicious and looks at me hoping to get an explanation. I only throw her a goofy smile and shrug my shoulders, she has no idea how glad I am to see her. She looks back at Lindsey and asks 'What have you been up to?'

'Nothing.' Lindsey replies in the most innocent, sweet voice.

'Right.' Sara says sarcastically and the tone did not go unnoticed.

'If you must know, I was asking my mother about her date.' She's enjoying herself, she's hoping to play Sara now.

'Oh.' Is all Sara comes up with and I'm positive I heard a little disappointment in her voice or am I mistaking?

'Do you want to know who it is?' Lindsey wiggles her eyebrows, she heard the disappointment too.

'I'm not sure. If your mom wants me to know, she'll tell me herself.' Sara lowers her voice considerably as if she doesn't want me to hear this, when I look at her I clearly note she's feeling a bit uncomfortable although I don't recognize what's causing it. The fact I'm supposedly dating someone or the fact Lindsey is telling her instead of me or maybe both.

I decide to help her out, I walk over to the door and stand behind Lindsey. 'Hi Sara, did you also have the pleasure to meet detective Willows?' I smile at her and she smiles back. 'She asked me all this questions about dating and stuff like that. I hope I haven't committed a crime, because I felt like a criminal in an interrogation room with a detective breathing down my neck.'

'Mom, you're exaggerating!' Lindsey's plan backfired and now she's upset about that. 'I only wanted to know if she was interested in someone at the moment.'

'And is she?' Sara's voice sounds hopeful to my ears, but maybe I'm the one who's being hopeful, hoping she really cares if I'm interested in someone. And secretly hoping she's a bit jealous.

'She wouldn't tell me. I was this close but you had to be here early.' Lindsey tells Sara in an amused tone.

Sara smiles at me more than at Lindsey 'Are you ready? Because we have a lot of work to do.' She states and Lindsey nods her head firmly, we say goodbye and they disappear.

While they were gone, I did some laundry and enjoyed having the house all to myself. I took a long hot bath, watched a movie and read a book in the den bathing in the sun. It's a beautiful day today, a clear sky, a bright sun, birds singing everywhere and a peacefully quiet house. I'm falling in love with the moment until I hear a car park in the driveway and two energized females walk laughing and shouting to the door.

Lindsey opens the door and shouts 'Mom, could you come over here for a sec? We really need your help!'

I roll my eyes and walk over to the front door, all the way thinking why on earth they would need me. Then I see them: both dripping wet, from head to toe. Sara's jeans are clinging to her like a second skin, so is her tank top. When my eyes go over her upper body a sharp intake of breath can be heard, I quickly bite my lip and hope no one heard except me. Sara clearly isn't wearing a bra and now that her top is soaked it's almost like she's standing there naked. Her firm breasts can easily be seen and her erect nipples peak through the material.

When my eyes finally make it to her face, I see her smirking but she chooses to let it slide because she remains silent. I also notice Lindsey isn't there anymore, I look at her questioningly and she points to the pile of clothes on the floor. Lindsey didn't want to lose any time, so she discarded her clothes on the floor and ran into her bathroom to take a shower. 'Come let me help you.' I say to Sara and take a towel from the stack still laying on the table. I drape it round her shoulders and look apologetic at her 'I'm sorry but I can't let you in like that. You're dripping… um do you mind taking off your clothes?'

She grins and shrugs her shoulders 'Not at all, as long as you give me something other to wear and a nice warm shower wouldn't be a bad idea…' I nod and she takes off her top without minding she's standing in front of my door visible for all to see. I'm shielding her a bit with the towel but it's not big enough to cover her entirely. I keep my eyes on hers not daring to look down at her naked form. She drops the top to the floor and takes off her shoes and pants too, which fall on top of the rest.

She's standing there in only her underwear minus bra, with a towel half covering her in front of me. I don't know why but I thought she would be a lot more prudish, in fact she's not at all. I don't detect one bit of discomfort, she's smiling at me getting the impression it's the first time I see a naked woman. She brings her mouth close to my ear and purrs 'If I have to take off my panties too, it'll cost you more.'

The only thing I'm able to do is stare and blink my eyes a couple of times, thinking I'm dreaming. I try to get my hormones in check because I have the urge to jump her right here right now. Sara standing there with all her naked beauty and saying that kind of stuff in that kind of tone drives me wild! That woman is breathtakingly sexy!

'Cath, as much as I like you ogling me like that. I'd rather you didn't share me with the entire neighborhood.' Her smirk firm in place. 'Besides I might start to charge you, I could make quite some money.'

My face turns a couple shades of red and I divert my gaze to my hands. I didn't really see anything, but now I know she would have been okay with it I feel somewhat sad. If she can tease me with it, I could just as well be guilty. I'll admit I was staring at her, but my gaze was directed a couple inches higher than her inviting breasts. I shake my head a bit and step aside to grant her access, I point into the direction of the stairs and give her directions to get to the master bathroom. She looks queerly at me and says in a much too gentle tone as if she's pitying me, but I know she isn't 'You do know I have been here before and I used your bathroom …' she smiles and disappears up the stairs.

While Sara's in the shower, I lay a pair of shorts and a t-shirt on my bed. I walk back towards the bathroom door and knock. 'Sara, I've put something to wear on my bed, I'm going to wash and dry your clothes now.' She shouts a thanks and resumes her shower.

I have just put her clothes in the dryer when I hear someone enter the house, it's Nancy she's here to pick up Lindsey. She walks towards the kitchen and sits down at the table, I hand her a fresh cup of coffee, take one for myself and join her. She looks around the house, noticing how silent it is. 'Lindsey not home yet?'

'She's upstairs, getting her stuff. She was with Sara all afternoon, they had some things to do at her club.'

'Talking about Sara's club, when are you going to go there again?' she asks.

'I don't know. Why interested to come along?' I didn't know my sister would be interested in that sort of thing. I'm feeling a bit guilty now because I haven't asked her before.

'Nah, not really my scene.' She chuckles and I sigh relieved. 'So, when are you going to introduce me to her.'

'To whom?'

'Don't play dumb with me, Cath it doesn't work anyway. To Sara of course.' She rolls her eyes and shakes her head a little. 'You have been telling me all these great things about her and I was wondering how much longer you were going to keep her all to yourself.'

'I'm not…' I trail off, the insinuation of her words hits me like a thunderbolt. She thinks we're seeing each other, oh no not another one. 'Nance, I'm not seeing Sara.'

'Whatever you say, sis.' She says clearly not believing me.

I cross my arms in front of my chest and narrow my eyes at her. 'We're not together, Nancy. We're just very good friends.'

'The last time you talked like that about someone, was … now I come to think of it… you have never talked about someone like that before.' She says still thinking whether I did or not.

'Talk like how?'

She smiles 'Like how? Like how! Like you have never met someone as special as her in your entire life. You always rant about how good and nice she is, about all the great things she does, you are clearly in awe of her. I see the twinkle you get in your eyes just thinking about her, she's great with Lindsey which is definitely a big bonus and no one will deny the woman is hot.'

'So she's special to me, I'll admit that, she is. But that doesn't mean we're seeing each other.' I say matter-of-factly.

'Maybe not, but it definitely says you want to be with her.' she replies in a similar tone.

Before I get the chance to answer, her jaw drops and her eyes widen it looks like she has just seen a ghost and last time I checked there weren't living any ghosts in my house, so I follow her gaze. My jaw drops too, in the doorway of my kitchen stands Sara Sidle wearing shorts and a t-shirt that's a bit too small for her, so it's pretty tight. She's toweling her hair dry, she hasn't noticed Nancy yet because she's saying 'Thanks for the shower, Cath. I could really use that, but next time you choose to ogle me I hope I'm not that wet. Wet is good, but not like that.'

She looks up and sees Nancy, her cheeks grow deep red and her smile falters. 'Oh hi there.' She offers.

'Hi indeed.' Nancy replies, then she looks at me smirking 'How are you going to talk your way out of this one?'

Nice, now she'll never believe me when I'm telling her the truth about Sara and me. 'It's not what it looks like.' I hope to convince her but I know it's to no avail.

'Sure, it's not. It never is…' that smirk will not disappear for the rest of the week.

I'm looking from Nancy to Sara and back, I try desperately to come up with a snide remark but my mind is blank. She's right, like always, what can I say to make this look more innocent than it is. The situation alone wasn't that provoking but Sara's statement unquestionably was. Sara has clearly gotten herself over the shock and looks at me with an unreadable expression, but it's obvious she has something on her mind.

She walks over to me, puts an arm around my shoulder, pulls me close to her and kisses the top of my head. 'Yeah, baby isn't it time your sister knew.'

'Ha, I knew it.' Nancy is practically doing a victory dance.

I'm flabbergasted, I can't move a muscle nor say a word. I'm just standing here, pulled close to Sara while she and my sister are laughing with me. I hear Lindsey come down the stairs and the only thing I can think off is '_Oh great, now she'll never stop badgering me_.' Lindsey walks into the kitchen and gives us an awkward look.

'What's going on in here?' she asks to no one in particular.

Nancy is the first to answer 'When were you going to tell me your mother had a new girlfriend.'

Lindsey snorts 'She doesn't. They're fooling you. Sara told me about it and believe it or not they're just very good friends. If you ask me they're just very blind.'

Nancy is confused and also a bit disappointed 'That's a pity. Linds, are you coming?'

'Sure, I'm ready. Bye mom, bye Sara.' She kisses the both of us and follows Nancy who also says goodbye. When they're gone, I move away from Sara and shoot her a death glare, she holds up her hands in surrender and apologizes for making fun of me.

* * *

'So when are you going to ask her out?' Warrick startles me a bit with his question. We're all sitting in the break room waiting for Grissom to show up with the assignments. I was reading one of the magazines, Greg and Nick are talking about girls I believe and Warrick was making a fresh pot of coffee.

Now he's sitting next to me waiting expectantly for my answer, I give him a quizzical look. First of all I hadn't expected him to say something, secondly I wasn't expecting him to ask me anything about her in front of the others. 'What are you talking about?' I ask innocently.

He lowers his voice 'Cath, you know damn well who I'm talking about.'

'You don't have to lower your voice, War.' I whisper to him. 'It's fine to talk about it like this.' I add in my normal voice. I'm not ashamed of myself, although Nick and Greg don't really know anything about my sexuality I guess they'll be okay with it, they're very open-minded. For the moment they don't even seem to notice Warrick and me.

He glances at Nick and Greg before he asks again 'When are you going to ask Sara out on a date?'

'Why would I want to do that?'

'Because you and her are acting like a couple without actually being one.' he says casually.

'Who says we haven't been on a date yet?' I reply smirking.

'You have?' he asks clearly confused 'Why didn't you say anything?'

'Because it's none of your business for one and because it wasn't a date like that.' His expression becomes even more perplexed.

'You have been on a date but it wasn't a date… Sorry but you lost me Catherine.' he says after a moment reflecting on what I have said.

'It's not that hard really, we're just friends and she took me out for dinner. That's all.' I shrug.

'That's all? Seriously Cath, you're losing your touch.'

'No I'm not.' I tell him firmly, I stand up and walk over to the coffeepot. 'Why does everyone keep badgering me about my friendship with Sara? First Lindsey, then Nancy now you too.'

'Sorry but I also think he's right, Catherine.' Nick says, holding up his hands in surrender.

'Great.' I roll my eyes and shoot both Nick and Warrick a death glare before turning to Greg 'So, I'm going to guess you're sharing their opinion.'

'You can't really blame them, can you?' he asks in a plain tone.

What's wrong with my friends, I know they're only looking out for me. But why is it so hard for them to understand that Sara and I are happy being just friends. Very good friends. I won't deny there's some sexual tension between us from time to time, but that doesn't mean I'm crazy in love with her. She's great, no… amazing and we have a lot of fun together. And I can talk to her about almost anything, I can always count on her to be there for me, she always gives me her full support and she isn't scared to give me her honest opinion. Some might say that we could just as well be married already but that's not true. We're not together, I'm not going to lie the thought has crossed my mind. It's just, she's so good with Lindsey too. None of my previous 'partners' have ever shown an interest in my daughter and she is and always will be my top priority. And I have to admit I love her, as a friend that is. Maybe it's better if I say I _care_ for her, deeply.

'It's nice that you all care so much about me, but I'm a big girl I can handle myself.' I smile at them, maybe I was a bit upset with them a couple of minutes ago but I know them and they're acting like all good friends would.

'Cath, you can't actually expect us to believe that there's nothing going on between the two of you. Hell, I think even Grissom picked up on it.' Warrick informs me.

'Guys, there is nothing going on between us. We're just good friends!' my voice gets a bit louder.

'Who are just good friends?' a very familiar voice interrupts, causing me to blush not knowing why precisely. 'Hey guys, stop harassing the lady or you'll have to deal with me.' Then she walks over to me and kisses me on the cheek and partially on the mouth. Great, now they'll never leave me alone. Although I believe that's Sara's point - again. Why does she keep doing that?

'Arrgghh…' I say when I snap out of my stupor and leave the break room, frustrated at how complicated my life has become. I don't even know what she's doing here!

I walk into my office and throw the door shut behind me, I'm waiting for the satisfying bang but it's not coming. I turn back to see what's blocking my door and see it's in fact not a what but a who. Sara stopped my door and walks into my office, noiselessly shutting it behind her. She decides to sit down on the couch.

'Don't you say hello to your friends anymore?' she asks smiling.

'Not when my _friends_ cause me trouble.' I tell her firmly placing a hand on my side.

'And how did I do that?' she asks innocently, of course she does she hasn't got the slightest idea what I'm talking about.

I sigh 'It's nothing, sorry.' I plop down on the couch next to her.

She eyes me for a moment 'Clearly it's something if you're this upset about it.' she states.

'Drop it, Sara. It's not something I want to discuss here.'

'No Catherine, just tell me what's bothering you.'

I glare at her, hoping she'll see I'm not in the mood but either she's oblivious to it or she chooses to ignore it because she's clearly expecting me to tell her what's wrong. I sigh again and roll my eyes more at myself than at her, she has this confident look on her face and I know she won't give in. 'Everyone keeps bothering me about my relationship with you! Why can't they just see this is what I want! I like it the way it is, we're just very close friends. I have never had a friend like you and I wouldn't want to trade our friendship for anything in the world.'

'Maybe because they want you to be truly happy.' She shrugs.

'I am perfectly happy, Sara.' I'm becoming upset again, what is she getting at! Is she the next one who's going to doubt my motives. 'You are supposed to support me here, you know. You're the one who doesn't do relationships.'

'So now this is all my fault? That's rich, Cath. I thought you wanted this just as much as I did.' She stands up and starts pacing in front of the couch, a clear sign she's upset too. I can't blame her, it's wrong of me to put the blame on her. But I can't help it, a part of me is holding her responsible for all of this.

'Of course I want this, that's why I'm so upset about it. Because we're clearly the only ones who seem to understand that!'

'Well it didn't sound like that just a minute ago. Catherine, if you want more than just be honest with me, I won't hold you back.'

I raise an eyebrow at her 'Sara, what makes you think I'm holding back because of you. If I want to date someone I just go for it. At least I'm not the one who's afraid of commitment.' My words come out harsh, which was not entirely my intention.

'I'm glad you're finally being honest!' she rolls her eyes 'I thought you understood me, I thought… I don't know what I was expecting… Who am I kidding here, why would anyone understand…' she's rambling more to herself than to me.

'So what… I'm just a liar according to you. Because I told you I understand and I also told you I don't have a problem with us. But now none of that seems to be true. Get out, Sara!' I'm really losing my nerve now, there are a few things that really piss me off, calling me liar is one of them!

'No I won't! Not until you tell me why the hell you're yelling at me and why the hell you're so upset with me if you're not interested in dating me.' I'm not the only one who's becoming pissed.

'I don't have to tell you shit, we're just friends aren't we?' I say in a very sarcastic tone. 'Now get the fuck out of here or I'll have you kicked out!'

'Fine!' with that she turns around and leaves.

'Fine!' I call after her, but I don't think she heard it. During our argument I got up as well and now I'm standing here in the middle of my empty office feeling rather empty myself. I walk towards my desk and sit down on the edge of it. Putting my hands in my hair, trying to figure out what the hell just happened. This was our first real fight, of course we had arguments before but never like this. What have I done? A part of me wants to run after her and apologize, I had no right to be like that. Another part of me is just too damn proud to apologize.

I look up when I hear my office door being opened, someone has the nerve to come in here without knocking. I'm about to give this person a piece of my mind, when I notice it's Sara who came back. She bursts into my office and doesn't stop until she's standing right in front of me. She looks at me and bites her lip, she touches my cheek with her fingers in a featherlike manner, tracing my bottom lip with her thumb. I close my eyes at the soft contact, my head is spinning uncontrollably. 'Tell me you don't want me.' she says in a low whisper. Before I have a chance of figuring out what's going on, I feel her lips on mine. She's kissing me passionately, it takes me half a second before I kiss her back. My head is still spinning, my blood is rushing through my entire body and my heart is pounding so hard, I'm afraid it will break my ribs. She sucks my bottom lip not too gently, my lips part when a moan escapes my mouth, granting her eager tongue entrance. She deepens the kiss and our tongues are dueling for control. I feel her hands on my thighs pulling me closer, when our bodies collide I feel a blast of electricity shoot through me.

She pours all her emotions into this kiss and I realize we haven't been completely honest with each other, this is what we have been waiting for all this time. My hands start to pull the hem of her shirt eagerly, only seconds later they're touching her hot, soft skin going upwards until I'm cupping her breasts. She gasps and moans at the same time, opening her eyes to look at me. They are incredibly dark, filled with lust, desire and so much more. She roughly rips my shirt open, staring lustfully at my breasts. She pushes me onto my desk, biting and sucking my neck first then the rest of my exposed skin.

She pushes my bra out of the way and sucks my hardening nipple. With her fingers she pinches the other one simultaneously, eliciting a moan from me. I pull her face back up, I want to kiss her again I think I can never get enough of her taste. She thrusts her tongue deep into my mouth while one of her hands is unbuttoning my pants. With one quick movement her hand moves inside my panties, when she feels how wet I am just from her kiss, she looks at me with a smug grin. Without warning she enters me, I arch my back, pushing my lower body into her wanting - no craving - more contact. I'm moaning loudly not giving a damn where we are, so she silences me with a kiss. Her fingers move in and out of me in a steady pace and I feel my climax building. When she feels me tighten around her fingers, she curls them a bit and increases the pace pushing me over the edge.

I have to bite my lip till it bleeds in order not to scream her name. When I come back down to earth, I realize what we have done and more specifically _where_. She pulls me gently back up and hugs me, whispering 'I'm sorry but I guess everyone was right! And just for the record I think you can help me with my commitment problems.' She kisses me lightly on the lips.

She pulls away from me a bit but doesn't let go, her hands are resting on my hips. We lock eyes and remain silent, perfectly happy just looking at each other. Somewhere along the road our feelings must have changed, I knew I cared for her and I knew she meant a lot to me but I didn't realize I was falling for her. Apparently the others did…

They were right we have been conducting ourselves as lovers, it felt so familiar and so natural it made us oblivious for our feelings. I wasn't really looking for a lover, I'm not the kind of person that needs someone to be happy. Or at least I don't need a relationship to make me cheerful, Sara was doing a perfect job just being my friend. And a friend like her is exactly what I needed, someone to be there when you need them the most…

Everybody knows I sometimes need sex to help ease my nerves or to help me cope better with tough cases. But I don't need to be together with a person to have sex with them, sex and love can be two separate things. For Lindsey's sake I had to keep them separated, until I met the right person who could act as a second parent to her. But it's been a while since I met someone who was interested in a romantic relationship with me or was interested in caring for my daughter.

Sara on the other hand doesn't care I have a daughter, in fact she loves Lindsey. She always takes her to cool places and she helped to improve my relationship with my daughter. Sara and I don't know each other that long but the hours we've spent talking and getting to know each other definitely count. I don't mind falling for her, but why on earth didn't I see this one coming? Why was I being this blind? What was I afraid of?

She smiles at me and I keenly return her smile, luckily I wasn't the only one that has been blind… 'We should talk about this?' she says somewhat hesitant.

'Yeah, we should.' I walk over to the couch and sit down, patting the spot next to me. 'But you know talking is overrated…'

Sara complies and sits down next to me 'Yeah I know.' she looks nervous and I guess it's the first time I've ever seen a nervous Sara 'You were right, you know.' She's watching her folded hands intently 'About me being afraid of commitment.' I want to say something but she holds up her hand to stop me 'We have talked about this before, I told you how none of my previous lovers really understood me. I realize now that you are different but I'm still afraid, at least a part of me is.'

I wait a moment, I don't want to interrupt her again, she clearly has something to say and if I interrupt her now it's possible she won't tell me everything. I'm just watching her, she's still not looking at me she's too busy watching her fidgeting hands. Just when I think she won't say anything anymore, she continues 'I know we can make this work, we have been making it work for 6 months now. Although we called it friendship, it is the basis of every relationship. I really believe that and our friendship has always been more intense than a common one.' she chuckles a bit 'We must be the dumbest women in the universe, we have been dating for months but we haven't moved on. It's funny actually I guess it never took me this long to take the next step.' She laughs.

Behind the tough and confident exterior lives a very insecure woman, this is something new. I have never seen this side of Sara before. She's really scared of being hurt and somehow she's almost certain this won't work for a long time, now it's my job to make her realize I'm here to stay. Nope no pressure at all…

'Yeah, that's funny.' I take one of her hands in mine and squeeze it reassuringly 'We will make this work, Sara. You're perfect for me and I don't think Lindsey will mind.' Of course she won't, she's the one that has been waiting for this from the moment she met Sara.

For the first time she looks at me and the confident woman has returned, she kisses me deeply. Her smirk has also returned 'What happened a couple minutes ago was just an appetizer, you haven't seen nothing yet.' She winks at me and my breath catches.

'Not that I mind you're here, but why?'

'Grissom called me, he had to tell me something. Talking about Grissom shouldn't you head back I think it won't be long before he starts handing out the assignments.'

'So you have spoken with him already?' I ask her uncertain.

'Yes, before I passed the break room and when I saw you sitting there, I had this overwhelming urge to say hello.' Her confidence is still there, I don't even know if she realizes the connotation of her little confession.

I want to ask her what they had to talk about, but she must have read my mind because she quickly adds 'Cath, promise me one thing please.' I nod 'Your father will be investigated again, please stay away from the investigation. I don't want you to lose your job.' She pleads.

'What?!' how come she knows my father is being investigated and I don't! My blood starts to boil, I don't like it when they withhold information from me. That must be the reason why Grissom wanted to talk to her. I'll deal with him later, first I need to know what Sara knows 'Why? Tell me what you know!' I almost command her.

'A longtime '_friend'_ is back in town and has decided to drag Sam all the way down with him. That's all I know, oh yeah and the fact that I'm going to be interrogated because I'm an acquaintance of Sam's. But Cath, you have to promise me.' how can she stay this calm, it's unnatural.

'I can't, I'm sorry. This is my father, I need to know he won't buy his way out again if he's guilty he has to go down.' I tell her honestly. Justice is justice even if we're talking about Sam.

'Catherine, you have to! You know that's a conflict of interest and if you as much as breathe on the evidence it won't stand up in court. Add the fact that you won't be seeing me till the end of this case because I'm a witness and you can't talk with me outside the lab then.' Her logic makes sense, I know she's right but I refuse to give in! My stubborn side has taken over again.

'Sara, I know this. Please don't tell me how to handle my job.' I say through gritted teeth.

She holds up her hands and stands up 'All I'm saying is - be careful. I'm going to leave now, because I won't be able to cope if we have a second fight today. And I need to get back to the club.' She doesn't say goodbye, she just turns around and walks out of my office.

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_**I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading! Now tell me what you think about it and I'll try to finish a couple of chapters this week so I can update sooner. I really hope my writer's block is over!!**_


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: _Thanks for the lovely reviews!! You know I like them... Well, here is the next chapter. ENJOY!_**

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_Sara's POV_

I open the door and inhale the fresh air deeply, in only a couple of minutes my life changed significantly. I'm standing outside HQ of the Las Vegas Crime lab pacing up and down next to my car. I shove one of my hands in a pocket of my jacket and find the one thing I need right now, I fumble with the box and retrieve a cigarette from it. I put it in my mouth and light it, I take a deep drag from it and exhale slowly savoring the calming effect it has on my nerves. I quit smoking years ago, but from time to time I need one.

After a couple more drags I'm calmer and think about what just happened… My day started so much easier than it's going to end. I woke up and did the same routine I do everyday until my phone rang just when I was ready for work. It was Grissom telling me he needed to see me as soon as possible. I got into my car and drove straight to the lab, I walked to his office after filling in the needed papers and excepting the visitor's pass, he told me Sam Braun was under investigation. He didn't give me many details, just something about a _friend_ with some incriminating evidence against Sam. And because I'm one of Sam's business partners the LVPD wants to interrogate me about Sam's whereabouts. At first it was strange he called me to tell me that, I'm glad he informed me but he didn't need to. Sam already told me there was something going down. Then Grissom told me the reason he wanted to inform me about this, he's as concerned as Sam himself that Catherine will interfere the investigation and because she's my best friend he knew we wouldn't be able to see each other without endangering the investigation.

When I walked through the hallway I saw Catherine in the break room and some kind of magnetic power draw me towards her. I had to say hi, so I obeyed my legs and stepped into the break room without anyone noticing. They were too busy badgering Catherine about her "relationship" with me, it was rather cute seeing how much they care about her. She was explaining how we were just good friends and nothing more. Somehow the determination in her voice hurt me, I know we're just friends but hearing her tell that to her best friends with that much firmness in her voice cut through me like a knife through butter.

I made one of the worst decisions ever when I decided to walk into the break room and tease her a little myself. She stormed out clearly very upset with me, I followed her and her irrationality made her say some pretty harsh things making me angry and irrational as a result. We had an argument and she threw me out, I didn't want to leave I wanted to understand her and know why she was being so irritated and angry. She threatened to have me thrown out by security and I gave in and left her.

The moment I set foot in the hallway, I realized why she could so easily get under my skin and hurt me with just words. I love her! I have been in love with her without realizing it. I turned around and stormed back into her office. She had the cutest expression on her face, a mixture between anger, confusion and relief. Just looking at her had the strangest effect on me, my heart was trying to break out of my ribcage and my head was feeling too light, like I was high on something. I closed the distance between us and kissed her before she could do or say anything. It took her a mere second before she kissed me back, when we locked eyes I saw a range of different emotion swinging in them, lust definitely being one of them. I was unable to control my raging hormones any longer. I needed to feel her, touch her, pleasure her, hear her scream my name in pure bliss. A voice in the back of my head kept screaming that what we were doing was wrong, especially in her unlocked office, but I didn't care I ignored it.

We talked about it shortly afterwards but I left in time to avoid another argument, Catherine was not a happy camper when she learned her father was being investigated and she was kept in the dark about this. I doubt she's going to back off the case, she's too stubborn for her own good sometimes. Not thinking or even caring about the consequences her persistence could have. Not to mention how much harder this is going to be for us, if she really wants to help on the case even hands-off, we can't see each other for the duration of the investigation. I don't think she realizes this yet or maybe she does but also doesn't give a damn about that, Catherine Willows is a woman who likes to do as she pleases.

Damn I shouldn't have left her without talking to her! Hell, I shouldn't have fucked her on her desk either, not when it meant so much more than just a quick fuck. I'm berating myself and I think one cigarette isn't going to be enough to calm me. I take another one and light it. But the calming effect the first one had is lessened, I take a few more drags and put it out. Realizing it's useless. I know something that will help me, work! I sit behind my wheel but I lack the strength to turn the key in the ignition. I put my head against the steering wheel and give in to the emotions that are running through me. Soon after my cheeks are damp with tears and I'm sobbing uncontrollably. And the worst part is, I can't tell for the life of me why I'm crying.

After a couple of minutes I calm down enough to be able to drive safely, I start the engine and drive straight to the club. I wipe the tears from my face and check myself in the mirror to see if there are any remnants of the fact that I've been crying. When I'm satisfied with how I look, I get out of the car and walk to the back entrance of the club. I parked my car far enough away from the entrance, the fresh air helps me clear my head for the moment. Because I will need a clear mind if I want to avoid any accidents tonight. But no matter how clear I want it to be, it keeps wandering to Catherine and what's she thinking and feeling. I hope she got a case, so she won't have a lot of time to ponder on everything that's going on at the moment. I consider to give her a call a couple of times, but manage to find a reason to decide against doing it.

The night passes a lot slower than I wished for but when the club is finally empty, I let out a deep sigh I have been holding for God knows how long. I lock the club and walk to my home, fortunately I'm intoxicated enough to feel numb. I open my door after fighting with the key and keyhole for almost 5 minutes and put my jacket on the coat rack, only I miss it by a couple of inches and my jacket with all it's belongings, including my cell phone ends on the floor. I don't even try to pick it up, I leave everything where it is and walk into my bathroom after freshening up a bit I plop down on my bed and let sleep overtake me. I wake up after having a terrible dream, Catherine was working the Sam case against better judgment and when the case made it to court not Sam himself but Catherine was on trial. She was being accused of obstructing the investigation and withholding evidence, she was sentenced to prison for 10 years to set an example or some shit like that. Lindsey not being an adult yet was placed in Sam's care, no matter how hard Catherine cried and pleaded to place Lindsey in Nancy's care no one paid attention. I went to see Catherine in prison, we were talking about what she did and how stupid she has been and all of a sudden the room starts to spin and I find myself being on trial. I don't know why but I'm being accused of murder, I try to tell them I didn't do it but no sound leaves my mouth. It's like I'm not even there until the jury comes back with their verdict and the judge reads it to me GUILTY. Still I'm not able to defend myself or do anything, I want to run but it's like I'm nailed to the court bench. The judge gives me the death penalty and everything fades to black.

I rub my eyes a couple of times to wipe the sleep out of them and to wipe away that terrible dream, when my body is fully awake I become aware of how wet my shirt is. I pull it over my head and throw it with the rest of my laundry, I open my eyes completely but the spinning sensation I was anticipating isn't there. Seems like I don't have a hangover after all, I step into the shower and let cold water run over my head hoping it will wash away my disturbing thoughts. That was some nightmare it seemed so real. Maybe I shouldn't have drunk that much… The shower doesn't really help so I step out of it and begin to get dressed, after that I walk to my kitchen make tea and toast and enjoy my breakfast. It's still quite early I guess, I glance at the clock and see it's only 12, which means I barely slept 4 hours….

Again I think about calling Catherine but she's probably still asleep and there's no need to wake her. I wonder if she listened to me and didn't work the Sam case, which is very unlikely. Maybe I can call Grissom he can tell me if she did or didn't. I grab my cell phone and call his home number after a couple of rings he answers.

'Hi Gris, it's me. I was wondering whether Catherine worked Sam's case or not?'

'_Good morning Sara, technically I'm not allowed to discus open cases with you…' _Sleep is still evident in his voice. I wonder whether I woke him or he still needs to go to bed.

'I know and you know I know that, that's not what I'm asking… I'm just worried, did she?' I sigh.

'_Relax Sara, I sent her away on a difficult case. It took her almost the entire shift to collect the evidence and bring it back to the lab. Warrick and I are working the Sam case and she asked questions but that's it…'_

Somehow I don't believe she will leave it at that, probably she was just too tired to do more or maybe she will stay away from the case… 'Thanks Gris.'

'_You're welcome.'_

I close off the phone and feel a bit more relaxed but there's still a lot of doubt in my mind. For one I don't know how our relationship is at the moment, are we a couple or just friends who went physical… I didn't talk to her anymore and now I'm afraid to give her a call. A knock on my door brings me back from my thoughts, I open the door and see a rather small balding middle-aged man with a badge standing there. He introduces himself as Captain Brass and asks if he can come in for a moment. I step back and let him in, we walk towards the couch and I sit down, but he doesn't. He's observing his surroundings, trying to figure out what kind of person I am. His observation didn't help him much so he stares at me. I become rather nervous from his scrutinizing glance and open my mouth to say something when he says 'Miss Sidle, can I ask you a couple of questions?'

I nod. 'Sure.'

'How well do you know Sam Braun?' he brings out a notebook and a pen, he taps the notebook before looking up at me.

'We are business partners and I know his daughter Catherine.' I state calmly although just saying her name makes my heart beat faster.

'I see and what kind of business are the two of you doing.' he scribbles something on the notebook.

'He uses my club from time to time for one of his parties, other times he hires me to organize parties in his casino. He also thought me a thing or two about running a casino.' I'm not sure whether I should tell Captain Brass that Sam has asked me to run his business if something would happen to him. Maybe it's better to keep that to myself.

'How often do you see him?'

'A couple of times a month, 2 maybe 3. Mostly at a business meeting or a business party.'

'So you can't tell me more about what he does or where he goes to…' it's not a question and Brass sounds a bit disappointed.

I shake my head and say 'I'm sorry Captain Brass but I can't help you with that.'

He waves his hand 'Miss Sidle thank you for your time, if we need anything more I'll give you a call.'

I walk him to the door and close it after him. The rest of my day goes by less eventful, I still lack the courage to give Catherine a call and she still hasn't called me either. Maybe she's waiting for me or maybe she's still upset with me, I don't know. I still have to place some orders for the club and it seems I left all my paperwork in my office. Well I have time enough to walk over there and pick them up.

Arriving there something seems off, I glance around and notice the backdoor is partly open and I know it's still too early for one of the others to be here. Perhaps I forgot to close the place properly last night in my drunken state, I study the door and notice signs of forced entry meaning I didn't forget to lock up but someone forced his way inside. I open the door a little further with my foot so I can sneak in hoping to find out who did it and more importantly why… The place is still dark, the only light is shining in through the small windows, I almost hug the walls walking further in I don't want to destroy any evidence. I become aware of an iron-ish smell knowing that isn't a good sign. I put on the lights to get a better view and see a body lying near the bar, I don't need to check if they are still alive if the blood pool around the head is any indication, this person bled to death.

Walking closer I notice the person is male, I crouch down but the face is unrecognizable it's covered with blood and bruises. I grab a paper towel from the bar and grab his ID from inside his shirt pocket. It's also covered with blood making it hard to read it or see the photo clearly. Still holding it with the paper towel in one hand, I grab another one and wipe it a little. The name and face becoming clear to me.

'Holy shit.'

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_**Thanks for reading! You want more??**_


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: _Finally... ENJOY!_**

* * *

_Catherine's POV_

I know Grissom is avoiding me, he knows I'm pissed that my father is being investigated without my knowledge. He sent me to this remote scene covered with evidence, the case itself was practically a slam dunk thanks to all the evidence the perp left behind. But it cost me hours to collect everything and when I finally arrived back at the lab and left the evidence with the right techs shift was almost entirely over. I was too exhausted to look for Grissom to badger him about the Sam case. When I was on my way to the locker room I saw him with Warrick in one of the layout rooms, I walked in and asked what they came up with. They didn't give me much, they only told me things weren't looking too good for Sam. I left them and went home.

Now I'm on my way home again after driving Lindsey to school. She was in a rather bad mood but wouldn't discuss with me what was bothering her and I didn't have the energy to persuade her to talk to me. I figure she'll tell me when she's ready. I park my car in the driveway and walk inside my house, I make myself a cup of coffee and plop down at the kitchen counter with today's newspaper. I read for a couple of minutes before heading to bed, I can't remember what was in it because only one thing was on my mind… Sara. I'm still feeling bad for arguing with her and leaving our conversation unfinished. Somehow I hoped she would give me a call just to tell me everything would work out fine but she didn't and now I'm too tired. Seeing the time it's probably too late to call her anyway…

When my head hits my pillow I fall asleep almost instantly, waking hours later when my alarm is ringing. I turn it off and head for the shower, I try to remember whether I dreamt something but my mind is blank. It's 2 pm, time enough to do some work around the house before I have to pick Lindsey up. While tidying and cleaning I listen to my machine but I have no messages. I check my cell phone but still nothing, I'm a bit disappointed I was expecting Sara to send me something. Maybe I'll call her later. When I'm finally done with all my work, I don't have time to give her a call because Lindsey's school is out in ten minutes and I still have to drive there.

I'm waiting in the car and see Lindsey approaching, her mood has improved a lot since she's smiling widely. She practically jumps in the car and greets me happily, when she's buckled up I drive off. She turns up the radio and sings along with a song, I like it when she's in this happy mood.

I look at her and smile briefly before focusing my attention on the road again 'You're mood has definitely improved big time.' I tell her still smiling.

'It has definitely.' She says cheerfully.

'What happened?'

My question startles her for a minute then she replies 'Nothing really. I just got an A for the project I worked on with Sara.'

As soon as she says the name my smile falters and my all seeing daughter notices this, she eyes me for some time but doesn't comment on it. She's trying to figure out what triggered the mood swing. 'So how was your day at work?'

'Fine I guess.'

'If it's not work then it has to be something else that caused this mood swing. What could it be…' her voice dripping with sarcasm.

'I don't want to talk about it, not now that is.' I'm really not up to discuss this with my daughter, I'm not even sure what exactly happened myself.

'Okay.' She replies a bit disappointed before she rants on about how her day was and what she had to do in class. I'm glad she does because it makes me forget temporarily what's going on in my life.

During dinner Lindsey's rather quiet again, looking at me with a questioning expression on her face. I try to assure her everything's fine with a smile but she sees right through it. 'Mom, I know you said you didn't want to talk about it just yet… but I know something's wrong. Talking could help.'

'Thanks sweetie, I appreciate your concern I really do…'

'But…' she interrupts me.

'But I don't know what to say. Something happened between Sara and me but we haven't talked to each other since.' I sigh and swallow hard trying to keep the tears that are wanting to break free at bay.

For a moment Lindsey had a happy expression on her face but when she sees the state I'm in, her smile fades. 'It's okay to cry you know.' She gives me a small but encouraging smile 'So something happened…you two didn't talk to each other…probably had a fight too…now you're both afraid to call each other… How am I doing this far?'

'Pretty good. Except you don't know if Sara is afraid to call me or refuses to do it.'

She shrugs 'Nah, knowing Sara she has wanted to call you since the two of you separated. She can't stand unfinished business, you should know that. And you should also know that Sara is all tough and confident on the outside but insecure and shy on the inside.' She thinks about something for a moment before continuing 'So…now she's probably scared to give you a call, seeing you didn't call her either. If you want my advice, give her a call instead of waiting.'

My jaw drops to the floor, my daughter knows Sara pretty well and now she's giving me advice about how to handle things. Unbelievable! It never ceases to amaze me what a wonderful daughter I have. But I also think she's right, so I grab my phone and start to leave. Lindsey grabs my shoulder gently gesturing I stay put while she does the dishes. She must really love Sara I have never seen her this desperate at getting us together.

I plop down on the couch and dial a familiar number, after a few rings I hear her voicemail. Which is strange, it's way too early even for Sara to be at work. I decide to leave a message 'Hi, it's me. I…um…I just wanted to tell you I miss you and I hope we're okay. Could you give me a call when you hear this. Bye.' I close off my phone and walk to the kitchen to give Linds a hand with the dishes.

'That's quick.' She says with her back to me.

'Yeah, got the machine. I guess she's busy I left her a message…' I know I shouldn't worry but something in the back of my head tells me something's wrong. I try to push this awful feeling away and enjoy the rest of the evening with my daughter, waiting expectantly for Sara's call.

* * *

I walk out of the locker room and check my cell one last time - I have been doing that every 20 seconds or so - to see if I received a text message or a call from Sara. But so far I haven't got anything. As long as Lindsey was around I didn't have a chance to give it too much thought but now at work and for the time being all by myself this awful feeling comes back. I turn the corner and walk into the break room which is empty.

I furrow my brow and check my watch, no I'm not late. Seeing the time I'm not early either, so where is everyone else. While grabbing a cup of coffee, my phone starts to ring and I pick up immediately thinking it's Sara who finally heard my message.

'Hi.'

'_Catherine?'_

'Oh…hi Griss.' I try not to sound too disappointed but I know I'm failing 'What's up? Where is everyone?'

'_Warrick is helping me, I called him in early because we had a lead. Nick is having a few days off to visit his family and Greg is waiting for you at Sara's club.'_

It takes a moment to sink in 'He's where?? Why?' my voice is panicky almost hysterical and Grissom realizes how that must have sounded.

'_Sorry Catherine, there's nothing wrong with Sara. Someone was murdered in her club.'_ He says calmly sounding guilty. He tells me what he knows and tells me it's my case, he's also sorry for that because he knows what kind of effect this is going to have on Sara and me. But with Nick being a few days off, he had no other option.

I practically jump in my car and drive as fast as I can towards Shakespeare, I'm beyond pissed. In no time my car is parked and I walk over to the club, I see a lot of people - mostly officers - and the coroner's car. I enter the club and see Greg is already collecting evidence and Brass is questioning Sara. I decide to join them and see what Sara knows.

'Miss Sidle, I'm sorry but we have to ask where were you between the hours of 12 and 6 in the afternoon?' Brass asks in his usual low voice.

When Sara sees me, she tenses a little avoiding eye contact. Then she answers in a firm voice 'I was at home, at noon you came by and asked me questions about Sam Braun. After that I spend the whole afternoon on my own trying to find the courage…' she pauses and looks me directly in the eye. 'to talk to someone I really lo.. care about, hoping it wouldn't be too late.' She looks back at Brass after making sure I got the message.

I give her a small smile letting her know it isn't too late, but since she didn't go out I know what Brass is going to ask her. 'Can anyone verify that?'

'Nope, I was all alone and I didn't go out. The only one who can tell you is my couch.' She shrugs.

'Do you know the victim?'

'No sir, I only just met him when I found him.'

'So you have no idea how he ended up here or why he came here?'

'Again no, I'm sorry I can't be more useful.'

I decide to check with Greg and see if he found something useful. The moment I step into his personal space, he tells me he hasn't found one piece of evidence that could be linked to this case. He looks very apologetic like it's his fault… I give him a friendly pat on the back and decide to help him. David tells us the victim is death approximately 4 hours and COD is exsanguination. He also tells us, the victim was probably killed somewhere else but he is not entirely sure.

'Catherine, this was the work of pro's.'

'Thanks David, I thought as much.' I tell him before searching the place for evidence. But my investigation is fruitless, not one single fiber or hair is to be found, not even a fingerprint, no murder weapon, no ID, nothing. It looks like the place is wiped clean and vacuumed entirely, I have never seen a club this clean after a busy night.

Brass has finally stopped asking questions to Sara, so I decide to ask some of my own. 'Brass, do you mind if I ask Miss Sidle some questions too.'

'Not at all.'

'You told us you have never seen this man before and you have no idea how he ended up there… Who has a key to your club?' I hate doing this, it sounds like I don't believe her.

'Well, that's easy… me. Sometimes I ask one of my employees to close off handing them the spare key, which I keep in my office. But this morning I closed off myself.'

'When did you arrive here?'

'Around 5, I guess.'

'Why did you come here this early?'

She gives me a look, one that says _what are you getting at_ and I know I'm treading on thin ice. 'Let me see… to work maybe.' She's beginning to sound very upset and slightly pissed too.

'Good for now. What was the first thing you saw when you arrived?'

She has calmed down a bit and answers in a neutral tone 'I saw the back door was ajar, at first I thought I forgot to lock it properly and some homeless guy tried to find a nice place to sleep, but when I came closer I noticed signs of forced entry and I knew something was off. So I entered and noticed an awful ironish smell then I saw a person lying on the floor. I went back outside and called the police.'

'So you didn't touch anything except the door?' this feels a little strange to me, because when someone is lying dead in your club you at least want to check if anything is missing. Sara's expression is becoming angrier every passing minute, I know I'm treating her like a suspect but in a sense she still is.

'No I didn't touch anything, like I said I saw him and walked back out. If you don't mind, I would really want to make some calls right now. If I think of anything else I'll give you a call.'

'Okay, Sara. You know you can't go too far?' I ask her but her look tells me she already knows. She doesn't smile at me, doesn't say goodbye, she just looks at me for a little longer before turning around and disappearing.

* * *

Back at the lab, Greg and I find an empty layout room and drop everything we found on the table. Which was nothing except for a coin, some dust probably not scene related and a tooth pick also probably not related to our crime. I took some blood samples and dropped them off at DNA. And Greg took some pictures from the body and the blood around it.

'Greg, did you fingerprint the door?'

'Of course I did.'

'And?'

'Nothing.'

'You sure?'

'Yeeezzz.'

'That's odd. Sara told me she touched nothing but the door. So her prints should be on that door.' Greg looks at me with a raised eyebrow, he opens his mouth to say something but closes it again. I leave him with the nothings we have and go to the morgue where Doc Robbins tells me our victim suffered severe trauma to the head from an unusual object. One blow cut him so deep the bleeding couldn't be stopped thus he bled to death.

The victim's face was so battered he was unrecognizable, also all his teeth were pulled out making it impossible to check his dental records. He didn't have any medical scars, so that was a dead end too. There was no way we were going to be able to know who this man was, even his fingertips were burned in some sort of acid, removing them. This case is becoming stranger by the minute, an unknown man ends up dead in Sara's club for no apparent reason. We've had random cases before, but something doesn't feel right with this one. I ask Doc if I can have the vic's clothes and return to Greg.

We check the clothes inside and outside hoping to find something, anything that could tell us who he is. We spend two hours on his clothes but nothing, I groan in frustration. I am in desperate need of some caffeine and head out towards the break room, it's completely empty and peaceful. At the moment I hate peaceful, I need some noise why isn't there a radio in here?? I kick the counter and it helps briefly. Being on my own I have some time to think about Sara and how this case is going to affect us and our friendship; she wasn't pleased at all when I was asking her questions earlier and until we have a lead she stays our prime suspect.

My head's spinning and I feel nauseous, why did this have to happen to us?! I grab my phone and without thinking too much about it I dial her number, I hope she picks up she knows we're not allowed to talk to each other but maybe she thinks I have to ask her something…

'_Sidle.'_

'Hi Miss Formal.' I smile into the receiver.

'_Hi, you know we're not allowed to talk to each other unless this is official business hence me being formal.' _Her tone is rather harsh, which hurts.

However I try to act all cool and unaffected 'Well…then this is an official phone call.' I pause but Sara remains silent 'Sara, we haven't found a single clue, this is not looking good.'

'_For me you mean.' _She sighs heavily.

'Yeah, you're a smart woman you know what that means.'

'_Yeah I'm still your prime suspect.'_

'Don't get me wrong, I don't think you have anything to do with it but…'

'_I know, you can't do a thing about it.' _another deep sigh can be heard '_Soooo…you can't actually expect me to believe you called me to tell me you found nothing, because I could have told you that too.' _She adds smugly_._

'That obvious, huh?'

'_Yeah. Not that I mind though. You could always pretend, on the phone anyway.'_

'I just needed to hear your voice, I miss you.' I say honestly.

'_Miss you too.'_

'Sara are you sure there isn't anything you can tell me that could help with the case?'

'_No Cath, like I told you before I don't know that man and I don't know how he ended up in my club._' She states firmly, but somehow I have the feeling she isn't truly honest. Sara isn't a very good liar, she's a good hider but that's something completely different.

'Isn't there anyone who holds a grudge against you?'

'_Not that I know off.' _she pauses I guess to reflect on something '_Unless someone is trying to get me because I know Sam but that's highly unlikely'._

We spend another couple of minutes discussing various theories and conclude that we both hope that something comes up fast. After we said goodbye I grab another cup of coffee and one for Greg too and decide to help him. I still have a feeling Sara isn't telling me everything. Just like she couldn't explain why her fingerprints disappeared from the door although she told me she touched it, now she says she opened it with her foot.

I walk back into the layout room and hand Greg a cup of coffee, he looked like he could use some and since I used his secret stash to make a fresh pot it's only fair I brought him a cup. He smiles in gratitude and excepts the cup, of course I don't tell him I was on the phone with Sara but he doesn't ask me why I stayed so long either. He probably figured I needed some alone time. We look over everything again, but still find nothing. Suddenly a ringtone breaks our working routine, I look at the caller ID before answering.

'Hi Griss, something wrong?'

'_No, just wanted to know what's up with your case.'_

'It doesn't look good for Sara, Gil.' I tell him honestly. 'So far we haven't found a single clue and we still don't know who the vic is.'

'_That sure doesn't look good.' _Grissom sounds really concerned. _'How is Sara dealing?'_

'Actually pretty good, given the circumstances. I have the feeling she isn't telling us everything, which is only making things worse.' I sigh.

'_Catherine…I…I have to go. And whatever you do, make sure Sara doesn't lose her trust in you.' _Somehow I'm sure he's hiding something as well, something he knows about Sara but isn't telling me. I didn't make it CSI III because of my good looks you know.

When I put my phone back in its holster, Greg asks me what Grissom told me. I tell him everything including my bad feeling. Greg tries to reassure me that I'm just being paranoid out of concern. I know it's more than that but I don't have the energy left in me to argue with him. I decide to check Sara's background, maybe something useful comes up.

Almost two and a half hours later I found out Sara is the daughter of Matt and Laura Sidle, she has a brother, lived with her parents in San Francisco until she was 13 years old after that there are no records of one Sara Sidle. It's like she fell off the face of earth, until she became a club owner in Vegas and even then the information is limited. It's obvious she's a good friend of my father, it's almost like she's invisible. Most things I found were things I already knew because Sara told me herself. The only thing I don't really know is what she has been doing between the time of graduating and moving to Vegas.

I rub my tired eyes a couple of times and feel a headache coming up. I have been staring at the screen of this computer far too long. I glance at the clock and notice shift is almost over, which I'm glad for because I am in desperate need of a nice hot bath and my clean sheets. Lindsey doesn't have to go to school today, so she's staying with Nancy who will bring her and Jeremy to a birthday party of a schoolmate. Thank God, now I don't have to tell Lindsey anything about this case at least not now.

* * *

Although I'm tired as hell somehow my car drove straight to Sara's club, I'm standing here hoping to see her. Which is stupid because Shakespeare is still a crime scene, so why would Sara be here. I know I'm not supposed to be here, but I don't care. I miss her and I really want to know where we stand. It's almost 9.30 in the morning, knowing Sara she stayed up all night because she's used to and is now heading for bed. I feel like a complete hormone struck idiot standing here…

I notice movement in the back alley and can't help but focus on it, it's a tall dark figure dressed in a suit. The person is definitely female and my heart skips a beat, this could be Sara. I try to focus harder on the stranger but the face is still unrecognizable. When the person notices my car, she slows down and tries to see who's watching her. Much to my dismay, she sees me watching and retreats. My heart sinks this time, although I'm not entirely sure that person was Sara, it hurts she didn't come here when she noticed me. Looks all the more like someone is hiding something.

A knock on my window almost causes me a heart attack, I turn my head so fast in the direction of the noise I almost end up getting a whiplash. 'What are you doing here, Catherine?' a not too friendly voice asks me.

'I…um…' I stare into the face of a very pissed off Sara and my voice fails me.

'So now you're spying on me?' her eyes narrow 'It's not enough for you to work my case and treat me like a suspect, now you want to watch my every move?' Her voice becomes louder and louder. The alcohol clear on her breath and I know she had more than a couple of drinks.

'You're drunk.' I try.

'Wow, what a very good observation maybe you should keep those skills for working a scene then you would actually find something!' She snaps at me, her words are very ruthless.

'No way we are going to have this conversation when you are clearly not thinking straight.'

She laughs at my statement and rolls her eyes. 'That's too easy to make a comment about.' Her expression changes 'Tell me again why you're here, I think I missed that one.'

'Sara, please don't be like this. Go home, sleep it off and we will talk about this later today.'

'Since when are you also my mother?' she furrows her brow 'The woman that pretended to be my mother ended up killing my father. And last time I checked she was staying in a mental institution…'

I'm too shocked to say a word, not the words themselves shock me but Sara's perfect emotionless expression does. Like she couldn't care less if she killed him. At the moment her expression matches one of a psychopath who doesn't show any remorse for the things he has done. Who's even proud of the pain that was inflicted on others. I really hope this is a result of the alcohol she has consumed. Against better judgment I get out of my car, Sara crosses her arms and gives me a once over daring me to make a move.

I lean back against the door of my car and just look at her, not saying a word. Waiting patiently for her to say something. After a couple of minutes I grow tired of the silence, she's too stubborn to say anything and I'm sick of standing here and be scrutinized. I open my mouth but before I have the chance to say something she interrupts me 'Are you finally going to tell me why you're here, it's about time!'

'Sara, no matter what I'll say or do you are in no condition to have a civil conversation. The only thing you're interested in at the moment is fighting with me.' I state calmly which makes Sara lose her balance, she was expecting me to turn the argument in a fight something I would normally do but not now. We have more important things to discuss right now and in theory I'm not supposed to be here.

'You think I want to fight with you at the moment, I was thinking of something far more – interesting.' She says smirking, her voice just above a husky whisper. Now she's playing the flirting card... Either way she wants this to become physical and I won't allow that to happen.

'Sara, don't even thi…' I don't get a chance to finish that sentence, Sara has pinned me against my car and my words are muffled when her lips crash against mine. I try not to give in, but I have no choice my heart and body win over my mind and when she deepens the kiss I let her gladly. The kiss is passionate almost feral, our tongues dueling for control. My hands find their way under her shirt and touch her hot soft skin. She traces my sides lightly and grabs my ass pulling me closer to her. I grind my hips against her but before things really get out of control I pull back and stop whatever we are doing. Sara persistent as always tries to win me over again by kissing and licking the sensitive skin on my neck.

I step away from her and my car and cross my arms, she looks at me like a lost child which is both adorable and sad. I cup her face forcing her gently to look at me, I kiss her tenderly on the lips and say 'You know we can't do this. We'd only make things worse and I can't lose you.'

A single tear finds its way across her cheek and she nods her head knowing I'm right. She locks eyes with me and for a moment we just stare into each other's eyes till she hugs me tightly. Before I can relax in her embrace, she's gone. She runs into the back alley and before I have a chance to react she has disappeared. I curse loudly and get back into my car.

* * *

I'm woken by the piercing sound of my cell phone, with my eyes still closed I search for the offending thing ready to rip the head off of whoever dared to call me right now. I know I barely slept a few hours and I'm in no mood to have a social call. My hand knocks over a lot of things but doesn't reach my cell, where did I leave it? I sit up and remember I left it in my pants pocket. I get out of bed and walk over to my pile of clothes. I get my cell just in time and bark into the receiver 'What do you want?'

'_I'm sorry Catherine, I thought you'd be up already.' _Greg's apologetic tone answers me.

'Well I wasn't, so this better be good!' I have calmed down a bit, but my voice is still harsh.

'_I was thinking… maybe we should go back to the scene and see if we really covered everything, maybe find some evidence that could lead us to the primary crime scene. Because I doubt our John Doe was killed in the club.'_

'That's a good idea, Greg.' I pause thinking about something 'We should get a better look at the perimeter too… and the backdoor.'

'_Okay, I'll meet you there at the beginning of our shift.'_

'Bye, Greg.' I end the conversation and crawl back to bed, I plop down on it and decide to sleep for a little while longer.

Moments later I'm woken again, this time it's the doorbell that's interrupting my sleep. I groan loudly and get out of bed, I don't bother to change my appearance whomever is here has to deal with me the way I look at the moment: hair tousled, no makeup, bags under my eyes, sleeping wear, … I'm shocked when I open my door and discover Sara standing in front of me, I quickly gesture for her to come in. She doesn't hesitate and steps over the threshold into my house. I close my door and turn around to look at Sara, who's frantically pacing up and down.

She looks at me and stops pacing momentarily, she opens her mouth and closes it again. The pacing starts all over again, until she looks at me again it's clear she has to say something but she is struggling to find the words. I walk up to her and put my hands on her arms to keep her from pacing again. I give her an encouraging smile but she doesn't return it.

She sighs heavily before she speaks 'Cath, I'm sorry for last night… I had no right to treat you like that…um…I was drunk and I … well, you were there and…wasn't expecting you. Guess I was mad for what happened earlier that day. But still that doesn't make it right, does it? I'm so sorry.' She stops rambling and locks eyes with me, a range of different emotions swim through them. 'You have to believe me, please. I need you to believe me.'

'Sara, I do believe you. But you know I have to follow the evidence not my heart.'

She nods, but she looks like a lost and beaten child. Her eyes are hollow except for fear, that's clearly visible. I know she's still not telling me something but I also believe she didn't kill that man. She brushes her lips softly against mine and before I can do anything, she's gone. I call after her, but she doesn't look back. She gets into her car and drives off.

I decide to get ready for work although it's still rather early. I don't feel tired anymore, I have too much on my mind. A lot of questions run through it and they're giving me a headache. I am intend to find out what exactly Sara's hiding from me.

* * *

_**Thanks for reading... Now go and review!  
**_


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: _Well, something went terribly wrong... I have posted this chapter (in documents) almost two months ago but I forgot to edit it and really post it. My mistake, I'm very sorry you had to wait this long. Anyway, here it is... ENJOY!_** _**Before I forget... this chapter is slightly different, it's written in the third person alternating between Cath and Sara.**_

* * *

After discovering the body, Sara made sure she would not be linked to the crime in any way. She knew just the person to help her with this, but he was in jail awaiting his trial. Luckily for her, he had introduced Sara to the person who would take over the shadier side of his business. Not that he was the kind of person to harm others physically or at least not anymore, after he had lost his sons he became softer. But Sam could still make sure some incriminating evidence against one of his partners would mysteriously disappear. And Sara needed to have her records disappear, everything that had happened to her in the period from after the murder of her father till the day she came to Vegas needed to be erased and fast.

Taking out her cell phone she dialed a number from memory and waited impatiently for the other person to answer the phone. 'Toni, it's me. I need a favor…' Sara gave direction to the other person on the line making the phone call as short as she could, she expected her phone records to be checked during the investigation and although Toni normally used an untraceable line, she had to make sure the CSI's would believe her when asked why she had phoned that number that she could blame it on dialing the wrong one. Toni immediately removed some details from Sara's file using a decrypting program that would overwrite certain data replacing it with blanks in order not to raise suspicion when a period in Sara's file was blank, it would appear as a failure on the computer's part like some sort of a virus or bug.

Sara was glad that now a certain time in her life wouldn't be brought up during one of the following interrogations. The only other person knowing about it was Grissom and Sara knew he wouldn't say anything unless they were sure Sara was the real perp. She could only hope that the real person responsible for this crime had made some kind of mistake. But somehow she was sure he hadn't. If only something could tell her more about the place of murder because she was sure he wasn't killed there. For one there wasn't any cast off, seeing the victim's battered face that was an essential part.

Sara put her hands in her pockets trying to figure out what steps she should take next, in her right pocket she felt a small plastic card and remembered she still had to lose the ID she had stolen from the victim, she had to take it because she knew they wouldn't be able to identify him without it. Not only had she removed his remaining teeth if she remembered correctly he had made sure himself – or someone in his place – that there were no records of him anywhere. Not even dental records, but just in case someone had made a mistake Sara had pulled out the remaining teeth.

All the 'evidence' Sara cleared from the scene was still sitting in a plastic bag in a small vault in her office, because her office wasn't part of the crime scene Sara knew they wouldn't process it without a warrant. And even if they did, Sara doubted they would ever discover the vault. Of course she wouldn't leave it there, but for now she couldn't dispose it because going back after the club was sealed would only incriminate her more. Sara envisioned the scene again and the back alley, trying to call to mind anything useful telling her how the body got into her club. There were no visible tire threads, no footprints, no disturbed soil, just nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe her mind was too clouded at the moment, but she had to do with the visuals because going back was no option.

Sara was brought out of her reverie by the tone of her cell phone, looking at the display and seeing there wasn't an ID, she picked up with the usual 'Sidle.'

'_Sidle, Toni here don't worry I'm calling with a secure line. We have to meet, someone opened your file.'_

'Of course they did… Nothing unusual so far.' Sara wasn't concerned about this.

'_I know, but whomever did noticed right away something was wrong, because they're trying hard to get to the bottom. Someone is trying to decrypt the blanks as we speak.'_

'Is that possible? I thought you said it would appear as though a virus had erased the information.' Slightly panicking, Sara started to pace up and down.

'_Well, I wouldn't say it's impossible because with some pretty advanced software they could put it back… It would take days, even weeks to do it.'_ Toni's voice was firm, which reassured Sara everything was under control.

'Then why do you want to meet me?' Sara couldn't figure out what the problem was, she had only met Toni a couple of times, because Toni was a very secretive person.

'_Because something was delivered for you at Sam's office, of course I made it disappear before anyone else saw it. But maybe it'll help you.'_ Toni sounded a bit guilty.

'Did you look at it?'

'_No! I wouldn't, you should know that, I'm a very discrete person.'_ The firmness had returned.

'I know that, but I haven't told you anything about the trouble I'm in…'

Before she could finish, Toni cut in '_Because there's in big back letters PAYBACK'S A BITCH written on it. So I figured it had something to do with what's going on at your club lately.'_

Almost crushing her phone with her hand in order not to drop it to the floor, Sara gasped and swallowed hard. 'I'll meet you at the small diner Sam uses… in one hour.' With that she closed off her phone and banged a fist into the wall. The sharp sting of pain made her cool down for a moment, but Sara's heart rate was still increasing dangerously fast. So fast indeed it made her head spin and black spots appeared before her eyes. Sara closed them and took a deep breath, willing her heart to beat normal again. _What had she gotten herself into… _If it weren't for Catherine she would have packed and disappeared like she had done once before.

* * *

Fifty minutes later Sara was emptying her third beer while waiting for Toni to show up, every time the door opened Sara watched the person entering hoping to see the familiar face of Toni. Wondering what the '_something'_ that was delivered was and wondering whether it would help her or put her in even more trouble, Sara felt a raging headache coming up, rubbing her temples in a calming motion she hadn't notice the person approaching her booth. When she opened her eyes she looked into the charming face of Toni. She still looked breathtakingly beautiful, Sara had to fight the urge to gasp but collected herself quickly and welcomed her with a smile of her own.

'Hi, how have you been?'

'We don't have to do small talk Sara. Here is the reason why we met.' While saying this, Toni gave Sara a bag under the table without anyone noticing.

'Thanks, but that doesn't mean I have lost my manners. It was a sincere question, you know.'

'I know.' For the briefest of moments Toni locked eyes with Sara and gave her a small smile. 'I'm fine if you really want to know. I'm very busy with Sam being gone and having to do everything on my own but I manage.' She ordered a beer for herself and another one for Sara. 'I thought you were going to help me out…'

Sara knew what she implied with that question and rolled her eyes 'I was until a corpse turned up in my club.'

'Figured as much. With Sam being on trial that would possibly jeopardize your case even more.' Toni took a long swig from her beer, almost emptying the entire bottle. She put it back on the table while standing up. 'I hope it really helps, Sara. By the way this time ask for help.'

Sara nodded and said goodbye, when Toni had gone completely she emptied her own bottle and got up, carefully taking the bag with her without raising suspicion.

* * *

Back at the lab Catherine was a little earlier than she had anticipated, she went in search of Archie in the AV-lab. Asking him if he could discover how so much of Sara's file was wiped clean. He gave her a smile and guaranteed her he would get to the bottom of it. Which was exactly what Catherine had hoped for because she needed to know what had happened to Sara during that period in her life and why it had disappeared from her file. Going back to the break room to fix herself her first of many to come cups of coffee, she switched on the television to discover the paparazzi had learned about the news of a murder victim at Shakespeare.

Catherine had called Greg to meet him back at the crime scene like they had agreed that morning. They would do a thorough sweep of the perimeter and of the inside again, hoping to find something useful at last. She turned off the television and emptied her cup careful not to burn her tongue and insides. Determined she drove her Denali to the crime scene, where Greg was already waiting for her. _Thank God the paparazzi weren't allowed anywhere near Shakespeare!_

'Don't you miss it?'

Giving him a puzzled look she replied 'What?'

'Our evenings out at Shakespeare.' He shrugged 'Have you heard from Sara?' Torn between telling the truth and lying, Catherine remained silent a bit too long. So Greg continued 'Don't answer it's bad enough as it is.' Turning a whiter shade of pale he sighed and said 'While waiting I did a preliminary check of the perimeter but I couldn't find anything. I'm sorry.'

'Stop apologizing Greg. Finding nothing isn't that bad, if we really have nothing to go on we'll have to close the case and everything can go back to normal. At least then we know whether Sara is cleared or not.' Catherine sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than she was Greg.

'If we don't find anything against Sara that is. So far we have nothing, but what if we do come up with the tiniest bit of evidence and it turns out Sara is the one responsible for it. I don't think you're ever going to trust her again or believe she has nothing to do with it.'

Catherine's eyes narrowed and Greg swallowed out of fear he had just awoken one of her rages 'Look all I'm saying is… if you're not entirely sure she has got nothing to do with it the investigator in you won't let it go and it'll ruin everything between the two of you.'

Catherine knew what Greg was saying was true, if it turned out Sara could have something to do with it, she wouldn't be able to let it go and move on with Sara. Because even now she was doubting Sara's sincerity and they hadn't even discovered anything incriminating. Letting out a deep sigh, Catherine cleared her head and started to process the perimeter. An hour later they gave up, like they had guessed they found nothing. Everything was a dead end!

They had spent another hour doing the inside, this time they were luckier. Greg had discovered that someone had tempered with the lock of the main entrance but it was the work of a pro, because they were able to lock the door again after they got in. Finding a fiber could indicate the victim was brought in through the main entrance. Greg also decided to check the restrooms again, because they now knew the murder-weapon was an unusual one it could be everything that's how he discovered blood on one of the toilet seats. Taking a swap for DNA and dusting the seat for prints, expecting to find a lot of prints because it's a public toilet but instead he only found one. Partially on the blood, which could mean someone had replaced the seat touching it after the blood got onto it. He took a closer look to the other seats and now saw this was a different one. After also bagging the seat, he returned to Catherine telling her what he came up with.

Finally they had something and Catherine was glad Greg was becoming very good at his job because while he was busy processing the toilet, she had found a picture of the entire staff including Shakespeare's owner. Seeing Sara's face, Catherine realized how much she still missed her, and wasn't able to tear her eyes away from the picture. Why had this happened? Why couldn't things ever be easy for her? Craving to see Sara, she told Greg 'Why don't you take those to the lab, while I wrap things up here.'

'Good idea. See you there.'

Catherine nodded and as soon as Greg had left, she almost ran to her car and dialed Sara's number. After only two rings she could hear Sara's voice. 'I need to see you!'

'_You know we can't…'_

'I don't care! I miss you Sara, I need you.'

Sara heard the need in Catherine's voice and against better judgment said _'Where are you?'_

'I'm back at the club, we needed to see if we had found everything.'

'_Okay, stay there. I'll be there in a few.'_

Before Catherine could argue, Sara hung up and headed for the club it would only take her a couple of minutes. Catherine waited patiently in her car and only three minutes later she saw someone emerging from around the corner in the back alley. She stepped out of her car and walked towards Sara.

* * *

Back in her loft, Sara opened the bag and found a large envelope in it. She reread the letters on it though she still didn't recognize the handwriting. Opening the envelope she noticed large photos and some files. It were crime scene photos, the first one was of a young woman in her early twenties lying on a some sort of couch completely naked. She was posed in a lovingly position, like her killer took good care of her. Not a hair on her frail body seemed to be harmed, her hair was done nicely and it appeared she died from poisoning or something similar. Sara doubted she had suffered at all, it looked like she fell asleep never to wake again. Accompanying the photo was her file: Ellen Stephenson, 22 years old, was a veterinarian working in an asylum for abandoned or assaulted pets. Sara had never seen her or this photo before.

The second one was one of a male also in his twenties, Sara believed. He was lying in a back alley, he looked severely beaten and judging from his wounds Sara guessed blunt force trauma was his cause of death. Again there was a file: Andy Michaels, 25 years old, also worked in an asylum for abandoned pets, he wasn't a veterinarian and it was also a different asylum. A set of his prints was also provided. At first sight there wasn't any connection between the two bar from the fact they both worked with animals. Taking a closer look, Sara noticed something else as well both were vegans. _What was going on here?_

There was only one photo left, it was a dark one making it hard to see anything on it. Only one thing was recognizable, a box of matches with the sign of her club on it. Sara knew for sure that someone was trying to incriminate her, but now things got a little too personal. She didn't have a chance to figure out what she should do with them because her cell phone was desperately trying to get her attention. It was Catherine pleading Sara to see her, Sara needed to see her as well, she decided to go to her although she knew she could endanger them both.

* * *

Now standing only a few inches apart both women were at a loss for words and clueless on what should be best. Sara wanted to talk to Catherine, make sure Catherine would know how she felt about her. But this romance thing wasn't something she was good at, so she remained silent. Catherine on the other hand knew precisely what she wanted to do, she wanted to take Sara some place special where they could enjoy themselves and afterwards talk for hours like they used to. Instead of doing just that she stood there watching Sara and waiting for someone to start speaking.

They remained silent for a couple of moments more until Sara had had enough of it, she took one more step forward and gently placed a hand on Catherine's arm. 'You wanted to talk?'

Not exactly what she had expected, Sara's question startled Catherine. 'We might have found something useful, are you sure you've told us everything?'

Sara closed her eyes for a moment to contemplate whether she should tell Catherine about the envelope that was delivered for her, but knowing that by telling Catherine she would have to explain a lot about her past she was just not ready for yet. She hadn't gone through all this trouble to forget it and pretend it never happened just to face it again right now. She let out a small sigh 'Yes, I've told you everything.' Sara's heart broke a little because she was lying to the person that meant everything to her and she could only hope Catherine would never know.

Catherine looked deep into Sara's eyes and saw how emotionless they were when Sara answered her question. The _emotionlessness_ only confirmed Sara was hiding something. Catherine's heart also broke a little, because she had never expected Sara to lie to her. Tears were trying to break free, but Catherine wouldn't let them not now. She pulled Sara close to her, hugging her until she had mustered up the strength to control her emotions. Sara softly kissed the top of her head before looking at Catherine again. She wanted to tell her how much she loved her, but the words wouldn't leave her mouth. She smiled instead and leaned closer to capture Catherine's lips with her own in a soft loving kiss. Feeling Sara's hot, soft lips Catherine was unable to pull away from her. Although it was a soft kiss it conveyed a lot of emotions from the both of them.

Sara was first to break the kiss, they locked eyes again. 'I'm sorry, Cath.' She hugged her one more time before she disappeared again, leaving a motionless Catherine behind. Catherine's beeper went off, looking at the display she saw Greg's message: I'm so sorry. Come back ASAP.

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_**Thanks for reading! This was it... Tell me if you still like it.  
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	17. Chapter 17

**A/N:** **_I should probably tell you I am experiencing some trouble writing for CSI... Well, I reread my reviews and they really inspired me to go on and write another chapter! So keep sending me reviews and give me the strength to go on! ENJOY!_**

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On her way back to Greg Catherine had to calm herself down a number of times otherwise she would have caused an accident of two. Greg's message had caused her to almost have a heart attack, on the one hand she wanted to bolt, away from Sara, even away from Vegas and never look back but she knew her curiosity would not be able to just forget about it. She needed to know what Greg had come up with. So she jumped into her car and speeded to the lab, after a couple of miles she realized her driving style was lethal and she had to stop it.

Without speeding too much and without causing any accidents she arrived back at the lab ten minutes later. She parked the Denali and ran towards the front door of HQ, she jerked it almost out of its hinges and practically ran through the building in search of Greg and the results. Everyone who encountered Catherine rapidly jumped out of the way, seeing her facial expression was somewhere between a powerful storm and hurricane season it wasn't wise to stand in her way at the moment. In no time she had tracked Greg down in one of the layout labs, he had a pained expression on his face which made Catherine calm down. She was about to yell at him to give her the update already but she didn't want to make him feel even more miserable.

'Hi, what did you find?' Her voice was almost soft.

Greg fidgeted nervously with the results he was holding, and wouldn't look up to Catherine when he answered 'Well, the DNA from blood on the seat matches our vic's.' He sighed and took a deep breath. 'The print partially found in blood was … ' he looked up to meet Catherine's gaze and his posture fell 'Sara's.' the words were almost inaudible but Catherine didn't have to hear him to know what he was saying.

'Oh no.' she rushed over to where he was standing and snatched the papers out of his hands, hoping he had misread anything but already knowing he was telling the truth. 'You know what that means…'

'It means the evidence is telling us Sara has something to do with it, it's not certain yet if the seat is indeed the murder weapon but Doc Robins thought it was, he's testing it right now.' He paled even more when his pager went off, he didn't want to check it.

'TOILET SEAT IS MURDER WEAPON' the message read and Greg dropped his pager, with a bang it hit the floor causing Catherine to jump a little in surprise. She turned towards Greg and helped him to sit down, it looked like he was ready to faint. Without reading the pager she knew what message Greg had received but she needed to be sure 'The seat is the murder weapon?' she asked hesitantly.

Greg only nodded slightly before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath 'What do we do now?'

'Well, we have Jim bring in Sara.' Catherine was calm, too calm. Truth is her heart had almost stopped beating, she felt like retching and fainting all at once and a part of her couldn't believe this was really happening. But one thing she was sure off was that the evidence never lied and it was telling her that the seat was indeed the murder weapon and that Sara had touched the seat. It couldn't be circumstantial because it was a different seat and someone had tried to wipe it clean. Her legs buckled a bit, but she steadied herself and walked out of the lab in search of Grissom first without another word she left Greg.

* * *

'_That's not a comforting thought, Griss.' _Sara breathed in her telephone.

'I know but you asked me to tell the truth and that's exactly what I did, if you wanted some reinsurance you should have asked someone who would be glad to lie to you and tell you what you wanted to hear without caring whether it's the truth or not.' Grissom told Sara sincerely. She had to smile to that, although he couldn't see her he knew she was smiling.

'_I knew I could count on you to make my life miserable…' _She told him laughingly. '_You really think I should come clean to Catherine and tell her everything? It's not that I don't want to but it's going to be hard.' _She asked more serious this time.

'Yes it's going to be hard, but you must… you'll lose everything otherwise. I know Catherine too well and she can see right through almost anybody, so lying to her won't do you any good.' He looked up in time to see Catherine walking into his office with a troubled expression on her face 'I have to go. Bye.' He hung up without waiting for a response.

'Gil, big trouble.'

Catherine told him what they had found at the crime scene and what the results turned out to be. Also Grissom had paled considerably, he knew Sara hadn't committed the crime but he also had to respect the evidence and could only hope Sara would tell the entire truth when she was brought in. 'Catherine, you have to call Brass. You know that.'

'Of course, I know that Gil!' all the emotions were starting to take their toll and Catherine was rapidly losing her temper. 'Why do you always stay this stoic! We're talking about Sara here, for crying out loud! Surely you can't tell me you believe Sara is a murderer?'

'I'm saying no such thing, but that's what the evidence is telling us. So we can only ask Sara maybe she can help us find the real killer.'

'I have tried to talk with her before, she is holding something back, I hope she's ready to tell the whole truth this time or … we won't be able to help her.'

'She will, Catherine, trust me.' He give her a reassuring smile and walked her out of his office and into the break room where he served her a cup of coffee and motioned her to call Brass.

* * *

The knocks become louder and louder, Sara puts on some clothes while yelling she's on her way, when she opens the door she is momentarily dumbstruck. She sees Brass and a couple of uniformed officers standing in her doorway.

'Sara Sidle, you are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have an attorney present during questioning. If you cannot afford an …'

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_**I hope you still like it, if you do tell me if you don't tell me what I could change :-)**_


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: _First of all I want to say thank you to all the great writers that have posted their stories lately, because it's thanks to them that I was able to start writing again. And what's more I've almost completely finished this story, which means I will be able to update frequently (not daily). Secondly, I want to thank all people who took the time to review. Those lovely reviews made sure I started reading again and thus started writing again :-)._**

**_Enough said... ENJOY!_**

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_**Sara sat silently in the interrogation room waiting for one of the detectives to come in and start asking questions. She knew this was one of their techniques to break you, some people can't stand to be alone with their conscience but the waiting didn't affect Sara on the contrary it helped her relax. It were the questions themselves that made her nervous not the waiting.

She knew someone was watching her on the other side of the mirrored glass, she could feel eyes on her. This was a sensation she hated, but she knew the person wouldn't be satisfied with watching her, because there was nothing fascinating about her behavior, she just sat there waiting, relaxed and not showing any emotion. If there was one skill Sara had mastered over the years it was hiding her emotions.

After a couple of minutes the door was opened, Sara's head reflexively turned towards it. For a split second a weird feeling ran through her, she hoped whomever was going to enter wasn't Catherine. She wouldn't be able to stay this calm if it were her. She inaudible let out a sigh when she saw Brass entering. He calmly went to the table and sat down, not paying attention to Sara. His face was half covered by a file he was pretending to read, but Sara noticed his eyes weren't really focusing on the paper. This was also one of the techniques she figured.

'An interesting file you have here.' He stated without looking at Sara, he put the file down and flipped through the pages.

Sara looked at him but didn't reply, she knew she wasn't supposed to. Brass continued ruffling through the pages for a couple seconds more before looking directly at Sara. Only to note she was still not showing any signs of distress. He cleared his throat 'Well, since the computer wasn't able to get your records you can tell me something about your whereabouts before you came to Vegas.'

Sara had expected this question so nothing about her demeanor could tell Brass she was startled by this revelation. He guessed she didn't know anything about the error. He guessed wrong. Sara smiled a little 'What can I tell you, a lot happened during that time.'

'Did you know your file had blanks?'

'No.' Sara lied successfully.

Brass couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed that none of his usual techniques were working, Miss Sidle wasn't giving him anything to work with. She didn't show any signs of guilt or hiding vital information. 'So Sam Braun has nothing to do with it?'

Sara shook her head a little and her smile broadened a bit. She also anticipated her relationship with Sam Braun to come up, detectives were so predictable. 'I don't know, maybe he touched my file and vital information magically disappeared from it. If you really want to know you will have to ask him myself I guess. But I'm afraid he doesn't have that kind of power.'

'Why did you come to Vegas, Miss Sidle?' although his tone was neutral, Brass was becoming impatient.

'Easy, I wanted a new life. I was sick and tired of my job, in fact I was just fired because of my incompetence and my girlfriend had dumped me because I was too engrossed in my work. Which is quite ironic if you ask me. I knew Grissom liked it here, so I gave him a call and asked his opinion about me moving to Vegas, he thought it would do me well. So I left everything in Frisco and came here almost empty-handed, I was offered a job one night while I was at a bar and the rest as they say is history.' Sara answered calmly and without much emotion.

Her extended and detailed answer startled Brass a bit, he expected to only get smartass comments and short answers. Hence he forgot his line of questioning, so he scratched his chin and ruffled through his papers again trying to come up with something. 'Do you know why you're sitting here?'

'Because you brought me here?' Sara's attempt at humor wasn't appreciated so she added 'I guess your CSI's found incriminating evidence against me, making me either your prime suspect or an accomplice to murder.'

'Right.' _She is smarter than I would have thought_ Brass considered, _she's not giving me anything_. He opted to be direct instead to maybe get some kind of reaction from her 'Care to explain how your fingerprints ended up on the murder weapon?'

This little piece of information was unknown to Sara and for a moment she lost her balance a bit, because she knew this wasn't going to end well. What could she do to get out of this one? 'Maybe, if you care to tell me what the murder weapon is exactly.'

* * *

Catherine didn't feel like attending the interrogation, she knew she wouldn't be able to control any feelings that would surface so instead of going to LVPD, she drove home around 7. Not entirely sure why, all she knew was she wanted to get away from it all, maybe she could pretend none of this was really happening.

When she opened her front door she was greeted by a very awake Lindsey. 'Hi Linds, what are you doing up this early?' she smiled at her daughter but it wasn't a very convincing smile.

'Mom, I have to be ready in a few to go to school. But what are _you_ doing home this early?' she hugged her mom nevertheless.

'What's that for?' a smiling Catherine asked.

'I don't know, you just look like you needed it.' Lindsey answered honestly. 'And it looks like I was right… What happened mom? Why haven't I heard Sara the last couple of days?'

Hearing her daughter mention Sara brought unstoppable tears to her eyes. She swallowed hard, trying to hold them but it was to no avail. A single tear escaped her eyes, soon more tears followed and she started to sob uncontrollably.

'I think I did something really bad…' Catherine started to explain Lindsey what had happened at the club and during the investigation, of course without the gruesome details.

* * *

Sara was escorted back to her holding cell, until they found more evidence or until they needed to ask her more questions whatever came first. The cell was small and empty except the small cot that filled almost the whole room but Sara didn't complain, she liked the silence she was put in. She knew she hadn't helped the investigation one bit, seeing the disappointed look in Brass' eyes.

Now she was all alone again her mind started to piece together what she had learned from Brass. So the murder weapon was a toilet seat, the victim died because he was hit more than necessary and bled to death due to the injuries that were inflicted. Why a toilet seat though? It was a different seat than the ones Sara had chosen for her club, why would anyone beat someone to death with a toilet seat to begin with? It was unusual to say the least, and given that the actual murder took place somewhere else it probably wasn't the first thing at hand. This wasn't making any sense, neither was the single fingerprint of Sara on it.

_Why would I choose a toilet seat as the murder weapon, murder that poor man somewhere unknown bring him back to my own club and keep the damn thing, not only keep it but also place it on a toilet in my own club?_ This was ridiculous! Sara berated herself for not telling this to Brass when she had the chance. Should she just wait to point this out to him whenever he came for her with more questions or should she try to call to anyone who was standing guard and request to speak Captain Brass?

The questions made Sara's head spin, making her a bit nauseous. She decided to lay down for a while. Requesting to see Brass would also mean she would have to come clean about her past and was she ready for this? Wouldn't it only incriminate her even more…

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_**Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it, my writing skill isn't fully working yet but it will become better... Of course I know one thing that always helps... REVIEWS!!!**_


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: _I promised it wouldn't take too long to update the next chapter :-)! Thanks for all the lovely reviews._**

**_ENJOY!

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Catherine arrived at LVPD, after speaking with her daughter she decided to ask Sara some questions herself, something wasn't making sense and she needed to know what had really happened. After the interrogation of last shift Brass had called Catherine to inform her Sara hadn't said anything useful. He didn't ask her directly if she would want to give it a try but Catherine could hear it in his voice.

After a couple hours of much needed sleep, she decided to give it a try. When she entered the building she was informed Sara was already waiting for her in one of the interrogation rooms, a uniformed officer escorted Catherine to the room. It took her a couple of breaths to compose herself, then she entered the room. Sara was sitting at the table looking much more relaxed than Catherine was anticipating. This is odd she thought, normally when they put someone in jail whether guilty or not, they were always kind of nervous and uncomfortable, Sara looked like she wanted to be there.

Catherine got to the table and sat down not taking her eyes of Sara. The proximity of Catherine made Sara a bit edgy, she had come up with the story she would tell Brass but she wasn't expecting Catherine to be there. This changed the situation a bit…

'My name is Catherine Willows, I'm the forensic investigator examining this case.' Catherine introduced herself formally, she knew it must have sounded pretty stupid but it was protocol. Sara gave her a smile, not at all offended by this. She knew Catherine had to do this.

'Miss Sidle, I have some questions for you.'

'Call me Sara, please.' It didn't sound pleading though Sara couldn't stand to be called Miss Sidle by Catherine and really hoped she would comply this simple request.

'Okay Sara…' Catherine was pleased Sara had asked her. 'Do you have anything to tell us before we start?'

'Actually I have.' Sara answered openly, shocking Catherine as well as Brass. 'But before I say anything can I ask you a question?'

Catherine only nodded.

'Why would I use a toilet seat to brutally murder a total stranger, nowhere near my club but dump him there anyway and instead of getting rid of the murder weapon hide it in plain sight? And on top of it all call it in myself. You must admit it sounds pretty absurd.' Sara looked at Catherine first, then at Brass but both remained silent so she continued 'I know motive doesn't change your view on the case Catherine, because you only look at the evidence but what would my motive be?'

Brass felt a bit uncomfortable being the one who was questioned, this was very remarkable he admitted to himself. He started to shift in his chair and look everywhere and nowhere. Sara noticed but didn't back down 'And what kind of murder weapon is a toilet seat anyway? What kind of sick bastard uses a seat… if I _was_ the killer and the murder had occurred at my club maybe you could say it was the first thing I encountered but…' Sara was on a roll, but she paused looking at them both hoping they were still following her train of thoughts 'It was a different seat and the murder took place somewhere else, so that doesn't make sense either. Pretend for a minute that I am your murderer, why would I buy a different toilet seat and kill someone with it? Wouldn't it be easier to use one of the club, wipe the blood off and place it back, then you probably wouldn't have found it bec…'

Brass cleared his throat pretty obnoxiously interrupting Sara and successfully putting a stop to her interrogation 'Miss Sidle, may I remind you we are here to question you not the other way around.' Although he tried to sound harsh, he failed because he was still a bit perplexed, never in all the years he had been a homicide detective had he ever encountered a suspect that tried to talk their way out of it in the way Sara was doing it. For a moment it looked more like a conversation between law enforcers trying to find out who the murderer was and why he had done it instead of an interrogation.

'Sara, this is all very interesting. But what made you think this was not the primary crime scene?' Catherine had somehow expected Sara to come back although she wasn't expecting to be interrogated by her. Some of the things Sara had said struck Catherine as odd, beginning with the fact she had mentioned her club wasn't the primary crime scene, and also the thing she said about Catherine not needing a motive but only evidence. For a moment she sounded like Grissom. Strange…

Without really thinking her statement through Sara blurted out 'Because seeing the amount of force that was used to batter his face and the amount of blood he lost, there must have been quite a lot of cast off. But there was none.' She immediately regretted her words when she saw small light bulbs in Catherine's eyes.

'How much exactly has Grissom told you about the cases he worked, because you are quite familiar with the lingo?' Catherine asked her. 'I remember you once telling me he was your mentor, what did you mean precisely?'

Sara was surprised Catherine had paid so much attention to her words from so long ago, she knew she was in trouble because this was just the thing she didn't want to come up during the investigation. She had to think of something really quick, but a large part of her didn't want to lie to Catherine again. It would destroy too much. Sara's hesitance to answer the question told Catherine Sara was trying to come up with a lie and she wouldn't let her, not anymore. She turned to Brass, pleading with her eyes to give her a moment alone with Sara. He understood Catherine's need to be alone with Sara and excused himself to get a drink, asking both women if they wanted something as well.

'Some water, please.' Catherine answered, Sara gestured she would have the same.

The moment he had left the room, Catherine turned to Sara taking one of her hands in her own. 'Sara, please don't lie to me anymore.' She pleaded 'Don't make me beg. I know you're hiding something, it's time you came clean. If you lie to me now, I won't be able to help you.' Tears had formed in her eyes, but she swallowed them back, she didn't want to cry during the interrogation.

Sara saw Catherine's hurt look, she wanted so much to take Catherine in her arms and make all the bad things go away and there was only one way to do that…

She nodded slightly and swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. She took a deep breath to compose herself, just then Brass entered and placed the refreshments in front of the ladies.

'You can answer the question now.' Brass informed Sara.

Sara let out a long sigh 'I think it's time to tell you a little about my past and why there are so many blanks in my file.'

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_**Thanks for reading. Well, I'm still addicted to reviews so let's make a deal... the more reviews I get, the faster I'll put the next chapter up. So if you want to know Sara's past, hit that button and leave a REVIEW :-)!**_


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: _Thank you all very much for the reviews. And as promised here is the next chapter. What happened to Sara before she came to LV? Curious...then read because I won't tell you :-)._**

**_ENJOY!

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'It all started when I was very young, I just liked to experiment with a lot of things and also liked to know how everything worked and why things happened. I read a lot of science books and with the little allowance I got from my parents I bought science kits to try out the new stuff I had learned. When I was allowed to college I decided to major physics, of course with all the knowledge I already had thanks to my books and experiments I graduated head of my class. I was offered a lot of jobs but they didn't interest me, so I took a job at the coroner's office which I liked fine until I attended one of Grissom's seminars. He made me warm to become a CSI and I decided to give it a try. The thought of solving crimes and bringing justice for the victims was something I had wanted to do all my life.' Sara stopped remembering her first meeting with Grissom and her job as a CSI. This explained a lot for Catherine but she decided to keep quiet until Sara had told them everything.

'I was happy and carefree until one of my friends was murdered and I was the one assigned to her case, unknowingly I walked into the hotel room where the victim was found by the manager and when I took a good look at her I recognized her. I ran from the crime scene and vomited in the corridor. Of course I wasn't allowed to investigate the case but that didn't hold me back, stubborn me had to know everything about it. Apparently my colleagues didn't find enough evidence to find the perp. That was the first time I doubted my job could make a difference but Grissom convinced me to go on and I did.' Sara sipped from the water and swallowed back the tears trying to break free. Sara had done so much to suppress these memories and this was the first time she spoke about them since then.

'A couple of months later another friend of mine was killed, it was the same case all over again: same MO, same lack of evidence. But this time I didn't tell anyone I knew the victim and of course I worked her case. I spent days and nights working, not minding my own health and it was during one of my sleepless nights I remembered the same man had approached me and my friends during one of our nights out prior to their deaths, it couldn't be coincidence. I told my partner about that man without actually telling him how I really got the information. After a long investigation he found out who that man was and brought him in for questioning, too bad for us he was too much of a sociopath and smartass to get anything from him. He knew we couldn't have found useful evidence and he didn't tell us anything that wasn't already released to the press.'

Catherine was seeing how much effort it took Sara to tell all this, she wanted to comfort her or tell her she was safe but she didn't, she couldn't.

'Now the perp had a face and a name, but apparently his name and records were fake and of course he disappeared. After a while I forgot about him until one night in a bar, a man approached me he looked familiar but I couldn't remember why. I should probably tell you I was enjoying myself and alcohol was flowing richly. So I was too intoxicated to think straight. We spoke for a short while and he probably made me touch something because the next day someone was found dead. This time the murder weapon was found and it had my prints on it, under the victim's fingernails they found my DNA.' A single tear ran down Sara's cheek but she didn't notice, she was too engrossed in her memories.

'Of course they had, I had had sex with her… probably with him watching and waiting until I left. No one listened to me, only my partner did. He did everything in his power to clear me, but he was unsuccessful.' This time Sara's steady voice broke, shattering Catherine's heart. _No wonder she didn't tell me anything, history was repeating itself._

Both Catherine and Brass waited but it didn't look like Sara was about to continue, she had a distant look in her eyes and silent tears were making her cheeks damp.

'What happened next?' Catherine asked in a soft voice.

A broken Sara locked eyes with her, trying to find the courage to go on.

'I was interrogated and suspected of murder, of course it didn't help all the victims had some connection to me, they wanted to put me on trial. They thought I was a serial killer, I can't defy their logic of course a CSI is able to commit the perfect crime that's how they tried to get away with the lack of evidence. Grissom came to my rescue and I disappeared. I came to Vegas with nothing except the money I had in my pockets and the clothes I had on. I started a new life here. Although I was never charged with anything… the jury wasn't convinced I was the real killer…thank god, I felt as an outcast for a long time after.'

'Do you know the man that was found in your club?' Catherine had a feeling Sara knew.

'Yes.'

'Can you tell us who he is?'

'He… he …' Sara's voice faltered, she sighed heavily before she continued 'He was my partner, Ron…ald Aberdeen. During the ordeal he started to use alcohol to unwind, not too much later he started to abuse alcohol. He couldn't face the demons of the job anymore. One day I found him half beaten to death and drunk in an alley not far from my home, I took care of him and helped him stay of the booze. Suddenly he just disappeared, leaving a note to say he was going to kill himself and make sure no one would ever find him. I thought this was very strange but because he had cleaned up and was doing really well when I couldn't find him and neither could the LAPD, I thought he had done it. Everything about him was erased, no records whatsoever, no birth certificate, no DNA on file, no dental records, no…nothing. He had made sure no one ever knew he existed or someone made sure I didn't know the truth until he turned up death in my club. Then I knew he didn't leave the note himself, I also knew how it would look that another victim with connections to me was found…' Catherine and Brass gave Sara a moment to collect herself, she was visibly distressed about the whole story and the fact she was showing so many emotions.

After getting as much details from Sara about the other cases as necessary, Brass released Sara clearing her as a suspect, something she clearly wasn't. Catherine wanted to jump up and down from excitement but the soberness of the situation didn't let her.

'Would you like me to drive you home?' Catherine asked in a soft voice.

'I would love that, but I'm going to decline.' Sara saw Catherine's face fall so she quickly added 'I'm sorry Cath, but I have to be alone and deal with this. We _will_ talk about all of this later, okay?'

Catherine understood Sara better than anyone else and she knew Sara's need to be alone to deal with her demons, so she didn't protest although she would have loved to take Sara home, just to be there for her. She gave Sara a knowing smile and hugged her to show her she understood and still cared. 'Promise?'

'I promise.' Sara hugged Catherine back and for a moment she felt safer than she ever had in her entire life. When the realization hit Sara, she pulled back a little and made Catherine look at her. 'I love you.' She said with as much emotion as she could and kissed Catherine passionately.

* * *

**_Thanks for reading! Care to guess what's going to happen next? Will she talk to Catherine like she promised or will she just flee again and ruin any chance at developing their relationship... Well, I know but if you want to find out, you'll have to be very patient OR you'll have to review because you know the drill the more reviews I get the faster I update :-)!_**


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